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Omniscient POV
Nathaniel and Elisha had been walking for quite some distance.
The lively atmosphere of Thyrelith had slowly disappeared behind them. The loud voices of merchants, the footsteps of travellers, and the constant movement of people became nothing more than distant memories.
The further they walked, the quieter their surroundings became.
At first, Nathaniel didn't pay much attention to it.
After all, not every street in a city had to be crowded.
But eventually, even he noticed something strange.
There were fewer people.
Then fewer sounds.
Then almost nothing.
Only the steady rhythm of their footsteps remained.
Elisha, who had been walking ahead as usual, suddenly slowed down.
His expression changed slightly.
Nathaniel noticed the small frown that appeared between his brows.
That alone was enough to make him pay attention.
Elisha wasn't someone who easily showed uncertainty.
He looked between two alleyways beside them, studying them carefully.
"What is it?" Nathaniel asked.
Elisha didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he stared at the two paths like he was trying to confirm something.
After a few seconds, he finally turned to Nathaniel.
"Stay here for a sec. I wanna check something."
Before Nathaniel could even reply, Elisha had already walked into the alleyway on his right.
Nathaniel stared at his disappearing figure.
Of course.
That was completely something Elisha would do.
Tell someone to wait, then leave before they even had the chance to respond.
A few moments later, Elisha appeared again.
He walked out of the alleyway and pointed toward the one on the left.
"It's this other one."
Nathaniel looked at the direction he was pointing.
The alleyway led directly to a visible dead end.
A wall.
Nothing else.
His eyebrow slowly rose.
Elisha immediately noticed his expression.
He sighed.
"Don't look at me like that."
Nathaniel remained silent.
His expression clearly said everything.
Elisha rolled his eyes and started walking.
"At that dead end is the entrance to the Silent Street."
Nathaniel followed behind him.
"Silent Street?"
"Yeah."
Elisha glanced around.
"Well, it's more like a dead street to me because it's purely empty. But that's where the Jade Pavilion is located."
He looked back.
"Any questions, Nathan?"
Nathaniel was quiet for a while.
Mostly because he actually had several questions.
But the biggest one was—
How did Elisha know about this place?
Before he could ask, they reached the wall.
Nathaniel looked at the ordinary-looking stone in front of them.
Then he turned to Elisha.
"You followed the rest in before?"
Elisha answered casually.
"Yeah, I did. But I came out shortly after to call you."
He stepped forward.
The moment his hand touched the wall, something strange happened.
The stone shifted.
A hidden entrance slowly appeared.
Nathaniel narrowed his eyes.
Interesting.
Without hesitation, Elisha stepped inside.
Nathaniel followed.
What appeared before them was not what Nathaniel expected.
At first glance, he thought the place was deserted.
But that wasn't the right word.
Deserted meant something had once been there.
This place felt like life itself had simply stopped.
The street stretched ahead with buildings standing on both sides.
There were houses.
Inns.
Stalls.
Even brothels.
Everything that should have made a street alive existed here.
Except people.
There was not a single person.
Not one voice.
Not one movement.
The street looked like a painting frozen in time.
The buildings were covered in a strange grey atmosphere. A thin layer of fog drifted between them, making everything seem distant and unreal.
It was completely different from the lively town they had just left behind.
Nathaniel couldn't help but wonder.
What exactly was this place?
Elisha's voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
"See? I told you."
Nathaniel looked at him.
"It's more like a dead street to me."
Elisha walked ahead.
"Everything here is stalled. No life. No time."
He looked around.
"It's like someone hit the pause button on this place."
Nathaniel's gaze moved around the street.
The strange thing was…
Everything was still maintained.
The buildings weren't collapsing.
The roads weren't destroyed.
It was as if someone still cared for this place.
But where were they?
Elisha continued.
"Look, there's even a bit of fog. Everything is greyed out here."
He shrugged.
"Anyway, let's catch up to them."
He started walking again.
Nathaniel followed.
After a few moments, another question crossed his mind.
"If you didn't follow them up to the building, do you even know where it is?"
Elisha suddenly chuckled.
"Of course not."
Nathaniel stopped.
"You don't?"
"No."
Elisha looked completely unbothered.
"But it should be the only building with colour here."
Nathaniel stared at him.
"Just because the name is Jade Pavilion doesn't mean it's going to be jade, you know that right?"
Elisha immediately frowned.
"Do you think I'm an idiot?"
Nathaniel said nothing.
"I didn't mean literal jade, stupid."
He huffed and walked faster.
Nathaniel remained behind for a moment with a speechless expression.
He had just been insulted.
Again.
But strangely...
He didn't feel irritated.
Instead, he found himself wanting to laugh.
Perhaps because Elisha sounded more like himself again.
Nathaniel shook his head slightly and followed.
The two of them continued walking deeper into the Silent Street.
The strange silence followed them everywhere.
There was no sound of footsteps besides their own.
No voices coming from the houses.
No movement behind the windows.
Nothing.
It was as if the entire street had been abandoned by time itself.
After walking through three different turns, they finally saw it.
The Jade Pavilion.
Nathaniel slowed down slightly when he saw the building.
It was much larger than he had expected.
From the name, he had imagined something more like a simple pavilion or a small place where a fortune teller received guests.
But this…
This looked more like the mansion of a prime minister.
The building was wide and grand. The walls surrounding it were tall, and the gates carried an ancient feeling, as if they had stood there for countless years.
Yet despite its age, the place looked strangely preserved.
Almost untouched.
Nathaniel stared at it silently.
Something about this place felt wrong.
Not because it looked dangerous.
But because it looked too normal in a place where nothing else was.
Elisha, however, seemed less bothered.
He simply walked forward.
Nathaniel followed.
The moment both of them stepped through the gates—
Bang!
The gates closed behind them.
The sound echoed loudly throughout the empty courtyard.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
The sudden noise felt too loud in the silent surroundings.
Then—
Elisha POV
As soon as Nathan and I stepped through the gate, they shut themselves with a loud bang.
I immediately turned around.
"What the hell?"
I walked back to the gate and grabbed it, trying to pull it open.
Nothing.
I frowned and tried again.
Still nothing.
Seriously?
Why the hell would a door suddenly close itself?
While I was still trying to figure out what was happening, Nathaniel's voice came from behind me.
"It probably opens after a person steps in."
I turned to look at him.
He stood there calmly, like this was completely normal.
"As soon as they stepped in, the door shuts itself. I think it should open when we are done with what we came here to accomplish."
I stared at him for a while.
Honestly...
He always had this annoying ability to sound reasonable even when everything around us was completely strange.
I sighed.
"Yeah, you're probably right."
I released the gate.
"Come on. Let's go meet them, do what we came for, and get the hell out of here."
I looked around.
"This place gives me the creeps."
Nathaniel rolled his eyes.
"You know you guys could have avoided here, but you guys just decided to come in."
I ignored him.
Completely.
Instead, I walked ahead and said loudly to myself,
"Then you can go back. No one's holding you."
A small chuckle escaped me.
I walked into the courtyard.
"What a creepy place..."
I couldn't help but shiver slightly.
The courtyard was beautiful.
That was the problem.
Everything was clean.
The paths were maintained.
The plants looked carefully taken care of.
The entire place looked like someone still lived here.
But there was no one.
Not a single person.
No servants.
No guards.
Nothing.
Nathaniel walked beside me and looked around.
"It looks well kept and clean to me."
I turned to him and gave him a deadpan look.
"Uh, no."
I pointed around.
"It's a mansion in a dead place, devoid of life and colour, and the only one that has colour."
I looked at him seriously.
"There is no one here as far as I can see, Nathaniel."
I shook my head.
"And this place is well kept? No matter how you see it, it's plain creepy."
Nathaniel stared at me.
"Don't be so dramatic, Elisha. No matter what, it's you guys who made a random decision to come here yourselves, so deal with it."
He rolled his eyes and walked into a hallway.
I was speechless.
I stared at his back.
Then my anger finally caught up.
"Who the hell are you calling dramatic, you arrogant bastard?!"
I ran after him.
"Hey! Get back here, I'm talking to you!"
He ignored me.
"Hey Nathan! You—"
Before I could finish, we reached another courtyard.
And I stopped.
Because there they were.
Xavier, Paige, and Darcelle.
Sitting on the floor.
I looked at them.
Then I slowly raised an eyebrow.
"So..."
I crossed my arms.
"What happened?"
They looked at me.
"You guys turned into beggars already?"
The expressions on their faces immediately became strange.
I continued.
"Well, not like I expected anything more."
I looked at the empty courtyard.
"But if that's what your fortune told you, don't you think it's quite early to start practicing?"
Everyone stared at me.
Like I had just said the most ridiculous thing imaginable.
I blinked.
"What?"
Paige was the first one to speak.
"What the hell are you on about?"
"Huh?"
She looked at me like she couldn't believe me.
"Really, Eli? You're such an idiot. What in the world made you come to that conclusion?"
I looked between them.
Then slowly said,
"Then why are you on the floor like some homeless kids?"
Paige sighed.
"Arrgh, goodness, Elisha. Honestly, I have absolutely nothing to say to you."
I rolled my eyes.
"Then shut up. You're saying quite a lot for someone who doesn't want to say anything to me."
Nathaniel ignored our argument and turned to Darcelle.
"What did you guys find?"
Darcelle stood up.
"Nothing really."
She looked around the place.
"The whole place is empty, but all doors are open."
She pointed toward another courtyard.
"We split up to search. We covered everywhere except the master's chambers."
Her expression became slightly serious.
"It's also the largest."
I frowned.
"Did you find anything important since you dragged us into this mess and the damn doors locked?"
I looked around.
"I'm really not up to playing escape room."
Then I looked at Paige.
"So where is the fortune teller?"
Paige gave me a dumbfounded look.
Darcelle looked away.
Xavier coughed before answering.
"Well... there seems to be some archives about a family called Crystal."
For some reason...
My body froze.
Crystal?
Xavier continued without noticing my reaction.
"At first, we thought it was related to the Jade Pavilion, but it turns out it's not."
He frowned.
"There is no fortune teller."
Nathaniel looked confused.
"Then what about this family?"
Xavier continued.
"The Crystal family started more than four centuries ago."
He looked at the old building around us.
"But the family was wiped out or something. It doesn't seem like there are any descendants of that family remaining now."
He paused.
"The last thing we saw in the archives about this family was that the three children of the main family and four from the branch families left the clan."
He frowned.
"But it doesn't say where they went."
Nathaniel's expression became serious.
"Crystal family..."
He muttered.
"That's one clan we haven't heard of."
Then he looked at Xavier.
"They worshipped the goddess?"
Xavier nodded.
"Yes. Goddess Mei."
Nathaniel frowned.
"But now the whole clan is gone, and they don't know where the people who ran away from the clan went."
He looked around.
"How did that end up here?"
Darcelle finally spoke.
"This pavilion collects records of clans."
She looked toward the damaged paintings and old tapestries.
"Clans that were wiped out or destroyed."
She pointed toward the walls.
"There were lots of half-destroyed paintings and tapestries where we found the archives."
Nathaniel sighed.
"This is annoying."
He looked frustrated.
"No fortune teller, but more confusion added to our original mission."
Everyone seemed confused.
Everyone except me.
Because I wasn't confused about the same thing they were.
My hands slowly tightened.
Crystal.
That was my parents' surname.
Crystal Ayres.
My parents...
The people I couldn't remember.
The people whose faces had disappeared from my memories.
But why was that name here?
Why was there a clan called Crystal?
Why was a clan that worshipped Goddess Mei wiped out?
And why...
Why did I feel like this wasn't just some coincidence?
What kind of messed up bullshit was going on?