Zekai opened his eyes on the edge of death. He was down on one knee, with one hand pressed tightly against his heart. He carefully looked at his chest. There was no blood or wound from where The Fool card had pierced him. "...Not even a scratch."
"Then what was all that? Did it really happen?"
He took a deep breath and looked around. All he could see was empty white space. There was no direction, no path, nothing. Just white everywhere.
"What kind of place is this?"
"Is this also The Fool's doing?"
There wasn't even a ground he could trust to stand on. Even distance felt like some kind of rumor here. He slowly raised his head and looked around.
"Is anyone here?" Calling out loudly didn't change anything. "This place is scarier than the palace!"
The moment he thought about the palace, he remembered Aron. "Oh no, Aron. He's still stuck there. What will he do without me?"
He immediately tried to run, wanting to get out of this place. But everything around him looked the same. There wasn't even a single landmark. Direction itself didn't seem to have any meaning here.
Still, he picked one direction and started walking. He walked for a long time. But after some time, he realized something was wrong. No matter how far he walked, nothing got any closer. He wasn't getting closer to any edge either. There was no feeling that he was making any progress.
It felt like someone had blindfolded him and left him somewhere. He let out a breath and stopped. "...I can't trust this place. Fine. I'll make my own rules."
He took a silver coin from his pocket. If logic didn't work here, he would let chance decide for him. "Heads, I keep going. Tails, I turn back."
He tossed it into the air. The coin spun in the air. For a moment, it suddenly froze in place. It felt like something had stepped in, fixed the result, and only then let it move again.
The coin started spinning again as if nothing had happened.
"...What touched it just now?"
Tap.
The coin fell into his hand,
"Heads."
He looked at the coin, his jaw tight, then shook his head. "I have to keep moving, or I'll go crazy in here."
He put the coin back into his pocket and started walking again, annoyed. "...So I'm just walking along a path you already decided for me."
But as he kept walking deeper, it started to feel like the space itself was changing based on where he wanted to go, instead of him actually moving through it.
Suddenly, he saw something in the distance. Blurred, broken shapes, half-hidden in the white fog. He narrowed his eyes and walked faster.
As he got closer, they became clearer. Not because he was finally able to see them, but because they had finally decided to show themselves.
Huge statues were standing there.
He raised his hand to count them. But before his fingers could finish counting, the number hit his mind.
Somehow, his soul already knew the answer. "...Twenty-one."
The statues stood in a big circle, and Zekai was standing in the middle of them.
He felt like the statues were all looking at him.
Each statue had a different shape. Their faces were half visible, but also somehow hidden.
"What kind of statues are these...?"
The moment the question left his mouth, he suddenly felt cold, even though there was no wind here.
Then a voice broke the silence. *Hey, Fool.*
Zekai froze. His pulse immediately went up. He turned toward the voice. Only endless white stretched out in front of him. "...Not funny."
*Hey, Fool.*
This time, the voice seemed to come from a shadowy figure far away. The moment he tried to look at it closely, it disappeared.
"Who are you?!"
The same voice came from behind him.
*Looking for me?*
He turned around. There was nothing.
*Find me.*
He turned around again. The shadowy figure was now standing somewhere completely different.
Farther away. And somehow, more wrong.
"Who the hell are you?!" The words came out of him. He had lost his patience.
The shadowy figure slowly tilted its head, without any hurry.
Then it disappeared.
"Hahaha."
The laughter spread through the whole white space. Another shadowy figure appeared like a ghost, close enough for him to touch.
Before he could react, it disappeared. No matter which way he turned, something was already waiting there, just for him to see it.
In the end, there was nowhere left that he could look without seeing those eyes. He stepped back.
Flash.
One of the figures appeared just inches from his face. Distance itself had stopped making sense. Panic took over his thoughts. He ran, but nothing changed.
The figures were already waiting wherever he was about to go, standing in his path before he even made the decision to move.
Then the truth hit him hard. "...Is it trying to hunt me?"
The moment he understood it, everything stopped.
"—!"
His whole body froze and he couldn't move. An invisible force came down from above, crushing him with heavy pressure and forcing him down. Before he could even say no, his body had already obeyed.
Thud.
This was worse than pain. Even then, he fought against it. The last bit of pride inside him screamed against that pressure.
'I have never knelt to anyone in my life. I am not going to accept this.'
The pressure completely ignored him. Before he even got a chance, the decision had already been made.
The shadowy figures scattered and disappeared. All except one.
Step.
Step.
It slowly came closer, just as if it had planned.
A tall figure came out of the white. Its feet were floating slightly above the ground, even though there was no real ground beneath it.
A pale coat hung loosely on his body, with golden threads reflecting a light that seemed to come from nowhere.
A worn-out bag hung from his waist. His soft, light-colored hair floated around his face, as if it was moving in air that felt slightly different from everything else.
In the middle of his chest, a white flower had grown straight out of his flesh. It wasn't pinned to his clothes. It was rooted inside him.
The figure stood clearly in front of Zekai. Even his shadow seemed to arrive a moment late. He tilted his head and stared at Zekai with eyes that gave nothing back.
Then he smiled, with something between kindness and cruelty on his face. "...You finally came."
It was never a choice. He had always been expected to come here. "You took so long."
'Me...?'
✦ End of Chapter 8 — The White Space I ✦