(What the actual hell was that?) Kran's voice cut through my thoughts as we stood once more in front of the head servant, her warm, welcoming smile unfazed by the nightmarish scene we had just witnessed. I was just as lost as he was, trying to make sense of what had just happened.
I glanced at Rem. Her usually energetic wings were drooping slightly, and the dazed look on her face told me she was struggling to comprehend it too.
"Y-you saw that too, right?" Rem's voice trembled, her eyes wide as she stared at me. "That wasn't just... in my head, was it?"
I nodded, still trying to wrap my mind around it. Whatever that was—whether a vision, a memory, or some twisted reality—we had all experienced it.
I turned to the head servant, my voice sharper than intended. "What just happened?"
Her expression remained serene, unaffected. "Hm? I'm not sure what you mean, dear guest." She gestured toward the hallway as though nothing was amiss. "Please, come along. We've been eagerly waiting for you."
Exactly as I'd expected—no recognition of the chaos we'd just encountered. She didn't remember a thing. We had no choice but to follow her, again, into the same halls, down the same corridors. Even the food they served was identical to what we'd been offered before.
"Okay," I said quietly, leaning toward Rem, "what if we ask questions that fit with the world instead of asking things related to outside? Maybe we can figure out what's happening by playing along."
Rem looked hesitant but thoughtful, then nodded. "Worth a shot. We're not getting anywhere as it is."
"I'm leaving this mystery-solving stuff to you guys," Kran muttered between mouthfuls of food, his tiny hands working quickly. His appetite was impressive for someone his size, though his indifference to the bizarre situation was even more so.
I mulled over what to ask, considering the things I saw yesterday and eventually flagged down a passing servant. "Excuse me," I began, keeping my tone light, "can you tell me what the musicians are preparing for?"
The servant blinked in confusion for a moment but quickly recovered. "They are preparing for the birthday celebration of the young lady, of course. She's turning seven today. Weren't you invited to the occasion, dear guest?" The servant's voice was polite but carried an edge of puzzlement, as though it was strange I would ask something so obvious.
"Ah, yes, of course," I replied, quickly trying to smooth over the question. "We're here for the young lady's birthday. Thank you."
As the servant left, I turned to Rem, who had been listening intently. "So it is her birthday. The girl we saw must be the one they're talking about."
Rem frowned. "But if it's her birthday, where is she? We've been through this palace twice and haven't seen her, except... You know, there."
"Exactly. She's the key to this, I'm sure of it. We need to find her." I spoke quietly, aware that the servants might be watching us.
We spent the rest of the day searching for the girl. The palace seemed endless, with its pristine halls and identical corridors. No matter where we looked, though, she was nowhere to be found. It was as if she existed only in that moment, non-existent before that. Despite everything, the palace seemed to move along with the loop—the same servants, the same events, and the same conversations.
Eventually, we found ourselves in the grand ballroom once again, where the musicians were setting up their instruments. I watched them carefully, my eyes scanning over each one.
"Hey, Rem," I whispered, "wasn't there a sixth musician last time?"
Rem paused, her brows furrowing. "I... I'm not sure. I wasn't paying that much attention last time. But everything looks same to me. "
It was unsettling. I wasn't sure if there really was a sixth musician, but someone disappearing while everything else continued as normal—how did that even make sense?
As the day wore on, nothing changed. The servants led us to our rooms, just as they had the night before, their polite smiles and practiced bows in place.
"Your rooms are prepared for the night," the head servant said as she bowed slightly. "Please, make yourselves comfortable."
I gave a stiff nod, not sure what else to say. The moment the door closed behind us, the familiar sound echoed through the palace again—the crash of splintering wood, followed by the terrified screams.
I bolted from the room, with Rem flying close behind me. This time, I knew what to expect. The portraits along the hallway began to change again, their serene images slowly replaced by that same young girl, paintings getting more and more damaged with every step we took. Blood smeared across her cheeks, her eyes staying the only part recognizable, and the walls began to turn old and brittle, decaying with every portrait we passed.
The entrance had changed once more. Instead of the elegant palace hall, we were in the burned ruins of a small wooden house. The air reeked of smoke, and the walls groaned as the flames devoured them. In the center of the destruction, the same monstrous figure loomed—a grotesque being with no eyes and a horrible, wide grin carved across its face. Its towering body bent toward the small, sobbing figure of the young girl, its inexistent gaze locked onto her as if feeding on her despair.
I lunged forward, earlier and faster than last time, trying to reach the girl before the scream. But just as before, her scream ripped through the air, impossibly loud. My balance wavered, and I dropped to my knees, hands covering my ears as the sheer force of the sound warped the space around me. It felt as though reality itself was bending, and before I could react—
I blinked, and I was standing in front of the head servant once again.
"Ah! You must be the guests we were expecting!" she exclaimed, her warm smile completely unchanged.
Everything reset.
(I can eat again!)
That's really what you think about in this situation?
The same ornate blue and white tiles underfoot, the same portraits lining the walls, and the same unsettling sense creeping through every shadow.
"I hate this," Rem muttered as she hovered beside me, her wings flicking irritably. "It's the same again. No matter what we do, we just end up back here."
"We'll find a way out," I said, though even I was beginning to doubt my own words.
As we walked deeper into the palace, I noticed something—something that wasn't there before. A faint noise, almost like a distant thud, barely audible over the soft hum of the palace's enchantments.
Thunk.
There it was again.
"Wait..." I stopped in my tracks. "Did you hear that?"
Rem fluttered closer, her eyes wide with realization. "That wasn't part of the pattern before."
"Let's check it out," I suggested, already heading toward the sound.
The thudding grew louder as we approached, leading us to a large window, covered with a mirror instead of glass just like all other. And there, in front of it, was a boy—a stranger we hadn't seen in the previous loops. He couldn't have been older than sixteen, and his appearance was disheveled, like he'd been at this for days. He slammed his fist against the mirror with a force that sent cracks spiderwebbing across the mirror. His knuckles were bloody, his breathing ragged.
"Hey!" I called out, walking toward him cautiously. "What are you doing?"
The boy froze mid-swing, his head snapping toward us. His eyes were wild, filled with panic and desperation. He backed away from the mirror, and it repaired itself almost instantly.
"Who the hell are you?" the boy demanded, his voice hoarse and trembling with exhaustion.
Rem fluttered closer to me, her voice low as she whispered, "We've been through this loop twice already. But we didn't see this guy here before."
Before I could respond, the boy stepped in closer, his eyes scanning me with a sharp, almost frantic intensity.
"I don't remember seeing someone like you... or that lullabat," he muttered, giving Rem a brief glance. "How did you get in here?"
His words were proof that he'd been trapped here just like us, looping through the same day over and over. But he seemed to be here for much longer than us.
"We were trying to get to the Fallen Worldtree through Silvershade Canyon, but the gate dropped us here," Rem said, answering before I could.
The boy furrowed his brow, muttering to himself. "That doesn't make sense... you can't just enter this place like that. Besides, I made sure every entry point was sealed beforehand. Something's wrong..."
"Can we at least know who you are and what this place is?" I asked, cutting through his rambling thoughts.
He blinked, as if suddenly remembering we were standing in front of him. "Oh... right. Name's Noa. This place? It's the Manor of Mirrors. And from the way you're talking, I guess you've already figured out its little... quirk."
"Quirk? You talking about the looping thing?" Rem echoed, frowning.
"Yes, This whole manor is stuck in a single day, repeating endlessly," Noa explained, a hollow chuckle escaping his lips.
"Is that even possible?" Rem asked, her eyes wide. "The Rule of Time doesn't allow anomalies like this. It shouldn't be possible."
Noa shrugged, bitterness in his voice. "Just because the Rule says it shouldn't happen doesn't mean it can't. That's why they have enforcers. I'm the Enforcer of Present, sent here to fix this... but, as you can see, I've gotten nowhere."
Rem's face paled, and even Kran, who had been mostly disinterested up until now, lifted his head in surprise. I hadn't known much about Enforcers myself, only what Zaram had explained—that they were chosen by the Rules to wield their power in exchange for loyalty. It wasn't a title given lightly.
"An Enforcer of Time... stuck in a time loop?" Kran snorted, unable to hold back his sarcasm. "Sounds like a bad joke."
Noa's head whipped around, glaring at me. "Who the hell said that?"
I gestured toward Kran, who sat smugly on my shoulder. "He did."
Kran grinned. "Heh, can't even see me? No wonder you couldn't do only thing you were supposed to ."
Noa scowled, clearly unamused. "Annoying pet you've got."
"Hey! I'm not a pet!" Kran snapped, bristling.
"Okay, enough," I interjected, before the bickering could escalate. I turned back to Noa. "But seriously, how did you end up stuck here?"
Noa let out a frustrated sigh. "I came here thinking this was some novice fooling around with time, bending it without knowing the consequences. That kind of thing happens more often than you'd think. But I was wrong. This—" he gestured around us—"was created by a single person. No one else in this manor is real."
"Wait, what?" I asked, taken aback.
"It's all a defense mechanism," Noa explained. "The little girl —she created this entire place after a nightmare attacked her. Kids have an insane natural talent for controlling somnium, but this girl... she's on another level. If that nightmare had been anything lower than an Incubi, it'd be dead by now."
"So, all of this..." Rem trailed off, her eyes darting around the room, "it's created by her using somnium?"
Noa nodded grimly. "Yeah. She built this place to protect herself, but now she's trapped in it. She doesn't even realize the day's repeating. Her subconscious is forcing her to relive it over and over."
"And your powers?" I asked. "Why can't you break the loop?"
"The manor seals off anything that doesn't fit. The moment I stepped in here, my abilities were suppressed. At the end of each cycle, there's a brief window where the seal weakens, but it's not enough time for me to break the loop on my own."
"Then what's the solution?" Rem pressed.
"We need to kill the nightmare. It's the source of all this. Normally, killing a Incubi level Nightmare wouldn't be possible without my powers. But it's in the loop, acting as one of the people from the manor. It's just as powerless as I am until the last phase of the loop."
"So, we have to find the nightmare hiding among the others," I summarized, feeling the weight of the task ahead. "Defeat it, and the loop ends."
"Exactly."
I crossed my arms, eyeing Noa suspiciously. "If you've known this the whole time, why were you punching that window like a madman?"
Noa grimaced, looking embarrassed. "Because I've been here a long time... and that thing's pretty damn good at hiding. I don't even have a solid suspect."
Great. Another layer of complication.
Kran, amused as always, gave a dry chuckle in my mind. (This is going to be fun.)
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