"Hmm..."
I hummed softly, lying sprawled across the white king-sized bed in Galter and Marta's supposed bedroom.
Sunlight streamed through the intricately carved windowpane, casting a warm, golden glow over the room. The space was tastefully adorned—abstract art, delicate metal carvings, and fresh flowers, their fragrance barely lingering in the air. Everything here exuded elegance, yet it felt untouched.
As if frozen in time.
Well...it really hasn't been touched in a long time...
I turned my gaze to the small object resting between my fingers.
An hourglass pendant.
Empty Dial...
[Inventory:] Empty Dial: Beneath a rumbling wave, time stood still, life seemed eternal and dreams everlasting. Born in a blissful dream was a glass of frozen time, time that never progressed nor regressed. This Rare Item has the Effect; Manifest.
[Effect:] Manifest: Where the clock and dreams entwine, the golden hour shall be thine.
My brows tightened at the description before I sighed.
I still don't get it...
Turning away from the interface, my gaze returned back to Empty Dial – the hourglass necklace which had saved me several times in the past.
Previously, the hourglass was true to its name, empty but now, it contained a colorless liquid.
TINK!
I inverted it once more, watching the liquid within swirl and flow through its narrow passage—clear, pristine, almost too perfect. It moved like liquid silver, smooth and weightless, yet somehow it felt heavy.
I eyed it for a couple of moments and thought.
I'm certain now.
I flipped it again, watching the liquid pour from the upper cone to the lower in an eerily flawless motion.
"This liquid... it's Marta's memories."
The thought settled in my mind with a weight I hadn't expected. I had suspected it ever since my strange encounter in the garden. The sensation of slipping between past and present, of existing as another person and nearly losing myself, it was a feeling I couldn't describe and yet couldn't forget.
The more I swerved through the scattered fragments of Marta's memories, which seemed oddly vivid even more than mine, and watched Empty Dial, I was sure.
A slow exhale left my lips.
"Empty Dial... Marta's memories..."
I shifted, stretching my limbs before sitting up. Through the window, the sky above Wyvern Woods stretched endlessly— it had no clouds but merely a soft mist curling along what seemed to be distant mountain ridges. The sun hung in the sky, its glow diffused, hazy, as if viewed through a veil.
And yet...
I never looked directly at it.
My brow furrowed.
"That's strange... isn't it normal to glance at the sun, even briefly?"
A faint unease curled around my thoughts, but I pushed it aside. I had more pressing concerns.
Am probably just tired...
With a sigh, I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and made my way toward the door. My fingers hovered over the handle.
Too many questions.
Too few answers.
I clenched my jaw, gripping the hourglass tightly.
"I need answers."
The truth behind Marta's life. The fate of Galter. Dave's survival. My classmates. Alex.
And this game.
I thought and yet, as my grip tightened, a whisper of doubt slithered into my mind.
I hesitated.
Then, barely above a breath—
"Is... is this even a game?"
The moment the words left my lips, the room felt colder.
And suddenly, I wasn't sure if I wanted to know the answer.
...
CLINK!
I placed a plate and saucer on the desk of the study room, having freshened up myself and put on new clothes, an oversized long-sleeved shirt. Empty Dial dangled from my neck, attached to its silvery chain, as I turned to the desk; on the plate was a slice of bread doused with jam and in the saucer was the same tea I had a bone with.
Why did I even make it again?
I thought with a raised eyebrow before suddenly uttering, 'AH!'
"It's my favorite tea after all!", I laughed before walking over to the bookshelves.
"Now...time to start reading."
I took a step forward and like it were second-nature to me, I danced across the rows, pulling out various books from them.
These books ranged from fiction to non-fiction, from prose to poetry and from history to philosophy.
I took out so many books that they seemed to form a hill and I hadn't even covered a quarter of the library. Galter and Marta must have been serious book-lovers.
"La~! Didi~! Da~, La~! Didi~! Da~!"
I hummed a soft tune as continued to stack the books.
The world of this game...is really wide...and so...I need every bit of knowledge I can get!
THOOM!
Dust fled from the ground as I put down a long pillar of books – all non-fiction.
"Hmm..."
I put a hand on my hip, and the other on my chin before looking at the expansive mass of books.
"This is quite a lot..."
...
'Quite' was seriously an understatement!
If the study room's five bookshelves were about ten feet tall and ten feet wide, having twenty rows each which contained more than thirty books each then the total amount of books in the study room was more than 3 000!
And Vicki had just hoarded about a quarter of it, which implied that she had taken more than 750 books!
So... you see that was quite the understatement.
...
"Pfft! Haha!", I let out a boisterous laugh and waved my hand, "All these books are nothing for me!"
"A Seraphim!"
After I said that, the study room became infatuated with silence.
I remained silent for several moments, before letting out a quiet sigh and walking over to the chair, sitting down.
This is the third time...
Frankly, this happenstance wasn't new.
In the past two days, since my encounter in the garden, I've had a couple of moments when my personality would suddenly take the form of Marta's.
Moments where my voice wasn't entirely my own. Where my personality twisted, my thoughts shifting—molding into something other.
Marta's habits.
Marta's words.
Leaking into my own.
Each time, it filled me with fear.
But I tried to rationalize it.
It was normal, wasn't it?
After experiencing someone's life so vividly, so intimately, wasn't it only natural that some things lingered? That I'd inherit a few of her instincts?
Still...
It unsettled me.
It made me feel like my body wasn't entirely mine.
Like it had been invaded.
HOO...FWOO...
I took a deep breath and exhaled.
"Hmm?"
I suddenly had a thought.
"Ahaha...I know what she meant now."
"When Marta said that she is what remains...she meant that she was just a memory."
AHAHA!
What a crass sense of humor!