I crossed my arms, though it did little to hide the nerves beneath my skin.
"We're in a subspace, you said. We're separated from the normal world, but since you mentioned that it was possible to break through with sheer force, I'm guessing we're still connected to normal reality in some way? Like there's a veil or border that's currently separating us from everything else?"
Cacophony's eyes widened slightly, but then she simply nodded her head. "That's correct. Magical subspaces are an extremely high class of magic, so there's a lot a variety among them. This one looks to be on the simpler end. It doesn't exist independently. It's tethered to something in our world, like a tumor growing from a host."
"The host in this case would be reality, then?"
"Yes, but I can get more specific. The host in this case would be this entire neighborhood."
I closed my eyes for a moment and allowed all the pieces to come together in my mind.
Opening my eyes, I placed one hand over my face as I struck a pose.
"Alright. I'm starting to get it. This neighborhood is being used as the area of effect for a spell that separates it from mundane reality. Since no one knows about this place, I'm guessing that the spell has existed here for a long time, but not all of its effects were active. Then, after I reawakened you, the spell's second effect activated. That second effect, of course, is the looping that we're currently experiencing."
Cacophony's eyes glinted with something unreadable.
"Impressive deduction," she murmured, her voice barely above the wind. "But there's one key detail you're missing."
I lowered my hand, the pose fading as seriousness crept back into my posture. "What is it?"
Cacophony stepped past me and slowly began to walk forward, the cold air curling around her like smoke. Her crimson hair swayed with each step.
"You've likely been pushing the thought to the recesses of your mind and ignoring it, but besides the creepy feeling in the air, there's something else that's off about this place."
Once she mentioned it, a thought instantly popped up in my mind.
I followed behind her, the pit of my stomach turning.
She stepped onto the lawns of one of the unassuming, normal-looking houses. She marched on the grass and dirt until she made her way to the window.
The blinds were up, and you could see inside.
The house was utterly barren. No furniture, no lights, no wall hangings—just pale, unadorned walls and a smooth wooden floor that stretched into silence. There were no signs of life, no dust, no decay—just the sterile emptiness of a place that had never been lived in. It wasn't abandoned. It felt unfinished, like a stage waiting for actors who never arrived. The kind of emptiness that made your skin prickle, because something should have been there… but wasn't.
Overall, the house itself was extremely nice. If it were ever put on the market, it would sell for a pretty penny.
Of course, none of that truly mattered in our current situation. There was another truth that gnawed at me. It turned an already disturbing house into a mystery unto itself.
And that fact was something that might not come to you at first glance.
There wasn't a single inhabitant.
Not the parents, not the children, and not even the pets.
Not a single living creature remained in this place.
If you only looked at that fact through the lens of this single home, then it wasn't that big a deal, but I knew better. Every house on this street, every single one, was devoid of people—of life itself.
What were the chances that everyone decided to move at the same time?
Before the Empress could even continue making her point, I spoke.
"The people who once lived here. They've all vanished."
My voice sounded dull to my own ears like it was being swallowed by the air.
Cacophony didn't nod or speak. She just stood there, gazing through the glass, analyzing something.
I spoke up again. "It's not like they all just up and left. These houses were lived in at some point in the past. Even if nothing remains on the inside, their exteriors show signs of the people who used to live here. It's really like all the inhabitants all popped out of existence and took their belongings with them."
Cacophony finally spoke, her tone somber. "There's a chance that when this subspace was activated, it displaced all of the people living here."
"So... Where are they now?"
"Well, there isn't any way to know for certain. I could come up with ideas, but I've got no way to give them any credence."
They disappeared without leaving any clues as to where they went or even what truly happened to them.
I clenched my fist.
'Damn it.'
There was a dreadful feeling in my chest. The maddening weight of being surrounded by clues with no way to piece them together. Of having the outline of a puzzle, but none of the middle pieces.
I looked up.
The moon hovered overhead, perfectly framed by a ring of clouds.
Cacophony stepped past me, her boots tapping softly against the pavement as she moved out into the middle of the street.
The wind lifted the edges of her elegantly crafted dress, and an audacious grin spread across her face.
"It's time," she said. "Let's craft an escape plan."
Stepping away from the window of the modest home, I spun around and gazed down the street.
Just as expected, on one side, the street extended down as normal. Each house looked average, framed by palm trees and green lawns. The line of houses also extended out on the other side, but there were a few differences. Those are the few visually distinct houses on the street.
It didn't matter which side a person decided to travel down, you'd wind up walking infinitely in circles no matter what.
It was a sickening trap placed here by some unknown entity.
I glanced up at the sky. The moon shone wonderfully. A large, white full moon at the center of the sky.
'Earlier, it was a crescent moon.'
On that point, I was certain. When I'd originally made my way to the graveyard, there had been a crescent moon hanging in the sky.
I didn't notice before, but it had changed after I stepped into the Null Streets. Just like everything else on this street, even the moon wasn't safe from being altered by whatever vile force made its home here.
The light from above was no longer soft and comforting, it was more like a terrible beacon. It's shine sent down a message to anyone who peered up at the moon in search of comfort.
The message that it sent down was simple. It whispered quietly, but its voice was firm.
'Nothing can escape. Not even me. Not even the moon.'
A bitter taste filled my mouth. It coated my tongue like ash. Even if I swallowed, it wouldn't go away.
Cacophony didn't seem to share in my disgust, as she gazed up at the moon, her features were filled with energy.
As I began to move towards her, she lowered her head and met my eyes.
"How old do you think these houses are?"
I blinked.
The question landed on me like snow—gentle, quiet, and utterly strange.
"What?"
"Estimate," she said, without turning to face me. "Judging by the design, the materials, the decay—or lack of it. Try to tell me how long these homes have been standing."
I hesitated, then glanced toward the houses with a grim expression.
I wanted to give her the most accurate answer possible, but as I looked at the homes, I struggled to think of what I should say.
"I... I don't know. A decade or two? They're fairly modern, I think... At least not super old..."
I scratched the side of my neck, suddenly aware of how little I knew.
By no means was I some expert in dating architecture. I hardly even paid attention to the more flashy things that surrounded me, asking me about something even slightly more obscure, like buildings, was too much.
"They seem modern," I added. "They aren't super new, but they aren't super old either. At least I don't think."
Cacophony gave a slight nod, as if she expected that answer.
"A decade or two," she repeated. Her eyes scanned the street again. "And yet, no one remembers this place?"
My mouth hung open for a moment, attempting to understand her line of thinking.
I put my head down and thought for a moment.
"Well, I was thinking that that was caused by an effect of the spell cast here. Unlike the other effects, the memory erasure is more of a passive effect. Well, I say that, but that's not entirely it. It's not just memory erasure, it's more like people don't even recognize anything to do with this place exists."
Cacophony tilted her head.
"Oh? How'd you come to that conclusion?"
"Even when ordered by a great king such as myself, no one was capable of recognizing the existence of the blue cracks that led me to your coffin. And, no one else has even attempted to set foot in this neighborhood."
Cacophony's crimson eyes softened, as though coming to some sort of answer.
"I've been sealed away for centuries," she continued. "I expected the world to change in that time. Cities to rise and fall. Kingdoms to crumble. Languages to fade out of use."
She looked back toward one of the houses. It was a cream-colored two-story with neatly trimmed hedges and a "Welcome" sign still hanging by the door.
"But this?" she muttered. "Veri, you say that these homes are only a few decades old. That means that until a few decades ago, they were lived in by their inhabitants."
Cacophony's crimson eyes narrowed.
"If I were trapped in that coffin for centuries and this trap was set in the event that I escaped, then how could this neighborhood have been in use for so long? It should be hundreds of years old, but it's not."
The logic twisted in my mind like a knot that wouldn't untangle.
She tackled the Null Streets from an angle that I hadn't even considered. I'd been thinking of the timeline of this place on far too small a scale. If you zoned out, there was an even bigger puzzle to be solved.
Cacophony paced slowly down the street with her arms folded.
"This trap is recent, but my coffin isn't. Something isn't right."
Her voice was quiet, but it carried a severity that made my chest feel heavier.
"There's no doubt," she murmured. "Even as I was sealed, I could feel the passage of time. I wasn't asleep for even a moment. I felt every second go by."
I opened my mouth, then closed it again. There was nothing I could say. I was starting to see what she saw. I also understood what must've happened.
"And yet," she continued, stopping by a mailbox, "This place isn't some tomb. It's a modern area where people live. This isn't where I was originally sealed.
I furrowed my brow.
"If this isn't the place where you were originally sealed, then the coffin was moved..."
That was the only reasonable explanation that I could come up with, but it was also one of the most unsettling.
On the surface, it seemed underwhelming, but the true horror revealed itself the longer you looked.
The Null Streets was a forgotten, cursed place that made any signs of life within its boundaries cease to exist. Where they went was unknown, but it was certain that they didn't escape whatever fate this place had planned for them.
If the Null Streets were meant to trap her in case she ever escaped, then we can deduce one thing:
Wherever the coffin went, the Null Streets likely followed.
That meant that for centuries, entire settlements of people have gone missing.
Scores of people had been forgotten by their loved ones, friends, and even the world. They simply disappeared. Vanished without a trace, with no way of even knowing where they went.
Just the thought made my skin prickle.
The evidence was all around us.
This vapid shell of reality.
Then came the other startling thing.
With a wavering gaze, I glanced toward Cacophony. The air heavy around her.
I hadn't realized how quiet she'd become.
It hit me all at once, like a stone dropped in water. The true torment of facing centuries alone.
Being able to feel every moment passing you by, not having the ability to do everything. Completely trapped as everything you once knew faded away.
No dreams. No rest. Just the long, suffocating crawl of time as you silently lie in the darkness.
Then, after being freed from all of that suffering, you're thrust into this. Forced to solve a puzzle posed to you by your enemy. Failure meaning certain death.
And then her only company to help her through it all... was me...
As I watched her, my throat became dry.
While I had my doubts about the Empress and her character, I couldn't help feeling a tinge of emotion from the horrors that she'd endured.
I wanted to say something, but I didn't know what words could have possibly been enough.
Cacophony was silent, eyes peering off into the distance.
Then, slowly, a faint smile touched the corner of her lips, thin and unreadable.
"Yeah, that's great. That's why I'm certain," she said, her voice as crisp as glass, "we can escape."
I looked up at her, startled. "What?"
"If this trap is mobile," she went on, turning her gaze toward the pale white moon, "then someone moved it. This neighborhood wasn't swallowed on accident; it was deliberately selected."
I put a hand on my chin. As a self-appointed magical fanatic, a situation like this one was interesting for a few reasons. Well, even ignoring the most blatant reason—the life-threatening danger I was presently in.
"A portable spell... I never imagined that something like that would exist."
"For a spell this complex, moving it around would be challenging. If I had to guess, the person who set it must have some sort of special method for moving it."
She nodded once. "Whatever the case. For this spell to be moved, it had to have been undone. So there has to be a method. If we follow that method, we'll be able to escape."
My heart thumped once, heavy in my chest. The street didn't seem quite as suffocating in that moment, though the weight of her words still pressed on my shoulders.
Unwillingly, a grin appeared on my face.
"That's the kind of excellent detective work that could only be expected from a beauty of the night! Now then, it's time for us to make a grand dash! Let's get out of this freaky hellhole and get back home!"
Before I realized it, I was in front of the house with a broken fence. Just like before, I could see the rows of plastic swords buried deep in the dirt.
Standing beside me, Cacophony balled her fists before cracking her knuckles.
She spoke in a smooth, unworried tone.
"I've got an idea. We'll have to rip this place in two."