"Take a seat," the voice echoed the moment I stepped in.
My gaze fixed ahead, landing on a woman seated on the floor. She looked to be in her late thirties, her eyes concealed by a black blindfold. Her hands rested motionlessly on her lap, and she was seated on a cushion with an orb glowing faintly before her.
I glanced back at Liliana. She gave me a slight nod, letting go of my hand. Steeling myself, I walked forward and lowered myself onto the cushion across from the woman and the orb.
"It will cost a silver sepha," she said in an even tone.
I frowned. A silver sepha? Isn't that a bit too expensive?
Still, I reached into my pocket and handed her the amount. Without hesitation, she accepted it, her hands moving deliberately. She extended her left hand, palm up, while her right hand rested atop the orb.
"Place your hand on mine," she instructed.
I did as told, my fingers brushing against her surprisingly cold skin. For a moment, the room fell silent, save for the faint hum emanating from the orb. Suddenly, an unsettling sensation swept over me. I turned my head slightly, catching Liliana staring at me with an intense, almost unnerving expression.
Before I could question her, the woman's voice broke the silence.
"It might hurt a bit, but fear not—it is all part of the process."
I opened my mouth to respond, but pain tore through me.
"Argh!" I groaned, clutching my chest as a strange energy coursed through me. The orb flared to life, illuminating the room in an eerie glow.
"I see…" the woman murmured, her voice distant as though speaking to herself. Her blindfolded head tilted upward, her lips trembling as words spilled out. "You have been cursed… cursed by all things in existence. Your karmic weight is so dense that death itself awaits you at every turn. Your fate…"
Her voice trembled. "It is set in stone. On the day the one you love most is revealed to be the one you hate in equal measure, you will meet your end."
"What?" I stammered, my mind reeling.
Her words pierced through me like daggers. The one I love the most? The one I hate the most?
[Amael, you need to get out of here!] a voice in my head screamed.
Why? I protested. I can't leave now. I need to know more.
Was this fate unavoidable? Even after steering clear of the main plot, am I still destined to die? Does this mean my fear of the protagonist's path was baseless?
But… who is the one I hate the most?
"Betrayal," the woman said suddenly, her voice sharp and cold.
"What?" I whispered, her word striking a chord deep within me.
Before I could process it further, my body began to twist in agony. Something inside me was stirring—a force I couldn't control.
[It's the side effects. GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!]
But I was frozen in place.
"I SEE IT!" the woman cried out, her voice no longer her own. Her body trembled as though possessed. "BETRAYAL! IT IS SYNONYMOUS WITH ALL YOUR DEATHS! FOREVER YOU ARE TRAPPED IN A LOOP! FOREVER A PAWN IN THIS CURSED GAME!"
Her voice rose to a deafening crescendo, her words striking me like a storm. "ON THE DAY YOU FALL IN LOVE, THE CYCLE SHALL BEGIN ANEW! AND ON THAT VERY DAY, YOU SHALL DIE BY THE HANDS OF THOSE YOU LOVE MOST!"
Pain erupted within me, unlike anything I had felt before. I clutched at myself as my hair—white strands of it—fell into my line of sight.
"ARGHHHHHHH!" I screamed, my sanity slipping away.
The woman's voice rang out like thunder. "This curse will haunt you until the End! On the day you fulfill what she desires, when all that once was shall return, the records will be rewritten—and on that day, you will cease to exist!"
I couldn't hear her anymore. Her voice was drowned out by the deafening roar of my own agony.
I felt something inside me snap.
A profound darkness overwhelmed me, swallowing everything. It was suffocating, consuming every ounce of my being.
I was losing myself.
"Ahhhhhhhh!" I screamed one final time before the darkness claimed me.