"I… am not sure what you're talking about, but I think you're mistaking me for someone else." I said, with a strained smile, looking at the little girl beside me who had lowered her sword from my neck and stepped closer, her fiery crimson eyes scrutinising me.
They bobbed up and down, tracing every detail of my appearance as though weighing something invisible.
Before I could react, she suddenly shoved me hard.
"Urgh—" My back hit the jagged rock floor with a dull thud, the air rushing from my lungs.
Pebbles bit into my skin as she straddled me with unnerving swiftness.
Her small, deceptively delicate hands tugged at my clothes, lifting the fabric up to expose my chest.
Then, without hesitation, her palm pressed firmly against me—right over my heart.
A cold shiver ran through me.
'What the hell is she doing?' I fought the urge to push her away.
She was a child—at least in appearance—but the suffocating pressure from before still lingered, and my instincts screamed that resisting her would be a mistake.
My body stiffened instead, my mind racing for explanations.
Her crimson eyes narrowed, and she closed them briefly, as if sensing something beneath my skin.
From the side, her perfect double tilted her head, her sword still poised at Lycrane's neck.
Her voice carried that same ethereal weight as before. "Is she telling the truth? Did she really bring someone with an affinity for spectrum sorcery?"
The girl pressing on my chest opened her eyes.
They burned brighter now, glowing faintly as if reflecting some unseen light.
Her hand lingered on me a moment longer before she finally spoke. "Yes. I can feel it. The affinity is there… It's faint, but there."
Her words dropped like stones into my gut.
'Spectrum sorcery? Again with that? What even is it supposed to be? And why would I—of all people—have it? I'd never even heard of it before tonight. And yet… she sounds so certain.' My throat felt dry.
Despite the absurd position I was in, I managed to keep my expression calm, my voice even. "…What do you mean?"
I narrowed my eyes, holding her gaze without flinching.
The little girl sighed, and looked away, ignoring my question entirely.
Her crimson eyes shifted from me to Lycrane, and her lips curved into a faint smile. "Good job. Now… we must take him to the Master. I'm sure she'll be very happy."
Lycrane nodded wordlessly as the sword that had been pointed at her neck was withdrawn immediately.
She rose to her feet, brushing dust from her torn garments.
I realised her jaw and all the grotesque injuries from before had completely healed—leaving no trace whatsoever.
Her skin was pristine and untouched, as if none of it had ever happened—beautiful as ever.
As I looked at her, a sense of betrayal tightened in my chest.
But Lycrane turned away coldly, her midnight-blue eyes deliberately avoiding mine.
I gnashed my molars.
'So it was like this, hah? She recruited me like that because I had an affinity for the said sorcery. And she brought me here just to hand me over like some kind of offering? I'm not going to get paid either, am I?' My thoughts began to spiral as the question settled in.
What are they planning to do with me?
Countless helpless scenarios gnawed at me, creeping into my headspace and making me feel nauseated.
We began moving, the twin crimson-haired girls leading us through the narrow tunnels.
They twisted and turned, deeper and deeper underground.
At first, I did not sense it, but soon I noticed something unsettling.
Each curve, each shift in direction… it didn't feel like we were moving.
'Rather, it felt like the tunnels themselves were shifting, making a path for us to reach our destination.' Whoever the 'master' they spoke of must have been silently guiding us to her.
The thought sent a chill through me, but I kept silent, feeling increasingly certain something very, very bad was going to happen to me.
'But why... me? If there were a global contest for the most ordinary person, I would undoubtedly take home the top prize.' And yet…
"..." I stared silently at the ground as we walked.
Right then, a thought struck me.
Didn't Lycrane bring up my real parents earlier when we were walking?
If so, does that mean my parents were someone special?
Perhaps sorcerers of that unknown domain the two little girls talked about—spectrums, was it?
'But doesn't that sound too cliché? What are we, in a fantasy novel?' My thoughts drifted along as we walked, feeling dazed from all the events I had gone through in just one night.
If I hadn't come here with Lycrane and then gone back to my room with my roommate to heal my injuries, I could have avoided all this.
But I had to stay behind. It's all my fault.
Finally, after what felt like hours yet could not have been more than minutes, we reached an end.
"..." My eyes widened as the strange structure revealed itself from the gloom.
It wasn't the stony structure of the cavern anymore—it looked more like a manmade, ancient edifice with walls of pale wood and endless corridors rising into an unknown distance, lined with floating staircases and bridges that stretched in all directions.
A single glance was enough to make my head wobble, my vision blurring.
My legs felt unsteady as I tried to comprehend the countless layers and overlapping halls that stacked together.
'What is this place…?' But before I could lose myself in it, we descended deeper into its heart by stepping on a wooden floorboard that moved like an elevator.
And as we finally reached the centre of all the wooden structures, my eyes widened in shock.
Nestled at the core of that impossible construct was a small wooden hut.
Its modest frame sat quietly amidst the sprawling madness, a lone pocket of simplicity surrounded by endless chaos.
And that… somehow, unnerved me even more.
As we stepped into the hut, and I laid my eyes on what was inside, my breath caught in my throat.
At the centre of the single room stood a rectangular glass structure, raised just enough to resemble a coffin.
Atop it lay an old woman, her body frail, her skin pale, silver hair fanning neatly around her.
At first glance, I thought she was already dead.
But then… I noticed the faint rise and fall of her chest and realised she was pretty much alive.
But right then my pupils constricted when I witnessed something inside the glass, under the old woman's body: a face pressed against the surface.
It looked as though someone was trapped within.
I froze as the strange face shifted, lips curling into something disturbingly playful.
Then, with complete casualness, it lifted a hand and waved at me. "Hello."