Marvek struck him from all sides. It was nothing like the gray, somber city he had imagined, but a living chaos, bursting with colors, smells, and cries.
The stones of the walls were cold and harsh, yet between them life pulsed: crowded stalls where merchants praised their goods, narrow streets packed with singers, tricksters, and pickpockets, women with baskets full of fruit shouting over the hum of the marketplace. Horses adorned with bells trotted past, while from taverns spilled laughter and poorly sung songs.
Renji stopped for a moment, dazed.
— "This… this is nothing like the cold cities from the Empire's tales. It's more like… a hive of lunatics."
He tried to slip through the crowd with his hood drawn low, but almost immediately he was shoved by a fat man, knocked into by a child running with a stolen loaf of bread, and splashed by a bucket of water tossed from a balcony.
— "Wonderful…" he muttered, wiping his wet coat. "If the Imperials don't catch me, the housewives of this district surely will drown me."
As he moved on, he noticed more and more: posters plastered on walls, with the faces of fugitives and enormous bounties. Luckily, his face wasn't there—yet. But the thought that it could appear on the next one tightened his stomach.
Meanwhile, two Imperial guards appeared on the street, checking passersby. Renji flinched and pressed himself against a wall, hiding behind a stall piled with fabrics. The merchant eyed him suspiciously.
— "Hey, kid, either buy something or get lost!"
Renji pretended to examine a carpet.
— "Yes, of course, wonderful… very beautiful. If I survive, I promise to decorate my house with ten of these."
He took advantage of the moment when the guards moved on, slipping through the crowd, desperately searching for an exit. The city felt like an endless labyrinth.
After a few wrong turns and two questions to grumpy old men (who only replied with "Get to work, brat!"), Renji finally reached the city walls. The streets widened, the noise of the market faded, and in front of him rose the southern gates. To his surprise, the guards seemed bored, more interested in their wine flasks than in the people passing through.
Beyond the gates, the plains stretched wide and empty, dirt roads winding between wheat fields and low hills. Renji breathed in the open air deeply and moved on.
He remembered the only words he had been given: "Between Marvek and the border, you'll find a tavern." That was all. No name, no clear direction.
The road dragged on far more heavily than he expected. The sun climbed high, the ground radiated heat, and his legs felt like lead. He passed only a few carts and hurried merchants, none of whom even glanced at him. Hours slipped by, and his stomach grew emptier and emptier.
— "Perfect… I'm wandering like a fool toward nowhere. Maybe this tavern doesn't even exist, and I'm just wasting time until I stumble into an Imperial patrol."
Just when he began to believe he had been tricked, he spotted the silhouette of a run-down building in the distance, at the roadside, nearly hidden by a cluster of trees. A thin plume of smoke curling from its chimney was the only sign of life.
Renji wiped the sweat from his forehead and stopped, staring at it with mistrust.
— "That has to be it… what else could it be?"
He pulled his hood tighter over his head and, with heavy steps, headed for the mysterious building.
The tavern was smaller than he had expected, with old shutters, a few planks missing from the roof, and the smell of burnt wood lingering in the air. The door creaked in the wind, but it looked open.
He glanced up at the chimney: the smoke rose lazily, proof that someone inside was cooking or warming something. He bit his lip and whispered to no one in particular:
— "Well, Ubik… I'm here. What do I do now?"
Only silence answered. Just the rustling wind through the trees and the door creaking. Renji clenched his fists and lowered his gaze.
— "Perfect. You abandon me, when I need to know if I should go in or not. Thanks a lot…"
He pulled his hood low, checked left and right to make sure he wasn't followed, then told himself: "Maybe no one will recognize me… I'll just look like a weary traveler, like any other."
With firm steps, he pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The tavern's light was warm, golden, filtered through oil lamps. The walls were lined with wooden beams blackened by smoke, and the air was thick with scents: baked bread, stew, beer, and wine. Several tables were occupied by people eating and laughing loudly. No one turned toward him, no one inspected him. He was just another stranger, like many others.
Renji felt his shoulders loosen slightly. The atmosphere seemed normal, ordinary, nothing suspicious. Then he remembered Ubik's words: "When you get there, sit down and wait a few hours. Don't rush."
He walked to a free table in a secluded corner and sat down. The chair creaked under his weight. For the first time in a long while, he felt like he could rest his legs.
He propped his elbows on the table and glanced around. The tavern buzzed with the usual noise of a roadside inn: dice rolling across a table, hearty laughter, knives cutting into meat. Nothing unusual.
— "Alright…" he whispered. "Let's see what happens next."
The tavern was nothing like the shady, dangerous place he had imagined. On the contrary, it resembled more a simple roadside eatery, where tired travelers could stop for a hot meal.
Behind the counter, a muscular man with arms like tree trunks stirred a large steaming cauldron. The smell of boiled meat and vegetables filled the room, making Renji swallow hard. His face was stern, focused entirely on his work, as if nothing else mattered.
Meanwhile, a woman —probably his wife— moved swiftly among the tables. Her hands were full of plates and jugs of wine, but she smiled warmly at customers, calling out "Right away!" or "Coming to you in a moment!" It all looked like a simple, natural family business.
And yet Renji couldn't relax. "It's too normal… too quiet. This can't be just an ordinary tavern. Why would Ubik send me here, if there wasn't something more?"
Suddenly, the woman noticed him. She caught his gaze and, without hesitation, walked to his table.
— "Good day, stranger," she said warmly. "Would you like today's special? Stew and fresh bread, with a glass of wine on the house."
Renji froze, his heart pounding. For a moment he thought of refusing, but the fear of raising suspicion made him react quickly.
— "Yes… yes, of course," he said, trying to hide the tremor in his voice. "That sounds good."
The woman gave him a brief smile, then turned toward the cook and called out the order.
Renji let out a long breath, pressing his forehead into his palm. "Calm down. To them, you're just a customer. Just a tired traveler. Nothing else."
He lifted his gaze again, watching the movements in the tavern as he waited to see what would happen next.
Soon, the woman returned with a tray. In front of him she set down a steaming bowl of thick stew, a hunk of warm bread, and a glass of red wine. The steam rose slowly, rich with salty, aromatic fragrance.
— "Enjoy your meal," she said simply, and moved on without another glance.
Renji sat still for a few moments, spoon in hand. He didn't know what to do. "Ubik… you told me to sit here for a few hours. But why? What am I waiting for? And when am I allowed to leave?"
He looked around. Everything was normal. Too normal. People ate, drank, laughed. No one was watching him. No one cared.
His eyes fell back to the food. His stomach growled, the smell tempted him. "What if it's a trap? What if this is all a trick? … But what choice do I have? I can't just starve."
Slowly, he lifted the spoon to his mouth. The taste struck immediately—warm, hearty, almost comforting. He bit into the bread, savoring the crunch of the crust and the softness of the inside. Gradually, he found a rhythm, eating faster.
And then, without warning, everything changed.
A sudden shock pierced through him. He felt no pain, had no time to gasp, no chance to understand. His body simply collapsed, like a puppet whose strings had been cut, his eyes closing for the last time.
In the next instant, Renji felt himself being torn away from his place. Air compressed, light twisted, and the world around him unraveled.
When he regained consciousness, he was once again standing before Marvek's gates. Exactly where he had left the city just hours before. His breath came in ragged gasps, his legs shook, his heart pounded wildly.
Renji fell to his knees on the dusty road, clutching his face with trembling hands, trying to understand what had happened.
— "No… NO! THIS ISN'T POSSIBLE!" he screamed, his voice tearing at his throat. "I… I DIED! AND… AND YET… I'M HERE?! WHAT… WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?!"
His eyes were wide, unfocused, his body shaking as if every fiber of him tried to flee his own existence.
The sound of heavy footsteps on gravel snapped him out of his delirium. The gate guards, hearing the screams, approached to investigate. Renji saw them coming and, with a mad shriek, bolted, leaving behind his cries and utter confusion.
Every step made him feel as though the world rejected him, as though time itself was fracturing around him. He repeated in his mind:
— "I DIED… I DIED… But… how? I can't understand… There's no explanation… no one could… NO!"
His thoughts were incoherent, tangled in fear and rage. He stopped, collapsed, then got up again, screaming at the sky:
— "WHY?! WHY ME?! WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?!"
Madness shone in his eyes: he knew he had died in the tavern, but there was no logic, no way to explain it. It was a living nightmare, and each moment dragged him deeper into a delirium tearing apart his sanity.
Every sound, every rustle of leaves, every guard's step made him believe the world conspired against him, that his death was only the beginning of a never-ending cycle.
— "No… no… I CAN'T! It can't be real… I died… I DIED… and now… now I'm here… here, and… and there's no escape!"
Renji ran through the dust, screaming, his mind torn between what he knew and what he felt. Every fiber of his being trembled with fear and confusion, and the delirium made reality itself crumble beneath his feet.
After several dozen steps, he stopped near a solitary tree by the roadside, trying to catch his breath, though his mind was utterly shattered. He trembled like a leaf in the wind, his eyes wide and deranged, his gaze darting wildly in search of danger or answers.
— "Maybe… maybe Ubik… maybe he knew… that I would die…" he whispered through clenched teeth, his voice shaking and tangled with nervous laughter. "Maybe that was his plan… to… to… to test me, or something… to break me…"
He froze suddenly, striking his forehead with his palm.
— "No… no… that can't be true. Ubik told me about Kaede, about these problems… he wouldn't… he couldn't have done this on purpose. No… NO!"
He bent forward, leaning on the tree, mumbling theories that grew more incoherent by the second:
— "But… if it wasn't his plan… then… then maybe I was too late? Maybe… maybe I did something wrong… I… I caused this…"
He shot up suddenly, screaming at the sky, his eyes empty of reason:
— "NO! It wasn't poison! No one killed me! One hundred percent! NO ONE! There's no physical explanation… no… there's none!"
He spun around the tree, striking his own hands, trembling all over, while delirium dragged his mind deeper into chaos.
— "Everything… everything is wrong! Everything! It can't be real! I died… I died… and yet I'm here… it can't be real… it can't be!"
Renji collapsed to his knees, rolling onto the grass, scowling and screaming:
— "Why… WHY?! Why me?! What did I do to deserve this?!"
Every fiber of his body shook, every breath a silent cry of despair. He repeated obsessively that he hadn't been poisoned, that no one had killed him, yet each thought made him feel reality unravel around him.
Leaning back against the tree, his eyes spinning, his gaze completely lost, his voice cracked by delirium:
— "Maybe… maybe it's all just a test… Maybe no one wanted to kill me… but then… then what… what's happening to me?!"
Renji was completely torn from reality, a storm of fear, rage, and confusion, unable to distinguish his own thoughts from what was truly happening. His mind was chaos, each thought tearing him apart. And yet, somewhere deep in his madness, a thin thread of reason began to return.
He suddenly remembered Ubik's words from the start: "If you die, you will be sent back in time, where you can change your fate."
— "So… this is it… this is all that happened…?" he murmured, his voice trembling, wavering between delirium and clarity. "I died… and I came back… and… I can… I can do something with this…"
He leaned against the tree trunk, pulling his hood deeper over his face, struggling to control his breath. Madness still pulsed in his veins, but a strange impulse pushed him forward.
— "It doesn't matter… I know what comes next… I know the path… I know what awaits me… it'll all be the same… if I go back to the tavern now… and yet… yet I have to go. Ubik is the only one who can help me until I find Eris, and he must have had a reason for sending me there!"
Even though his thoughts were chaotic, even though reality felt fractured, Renji poured all his strength into one step forward, then another. Each step along the dusty road east was an act of calculated madness, a gesture of survival, and an attempt to grasp something beyond his comprehension.
As he walked, the image of Miyu and Airi came to him. Their faces, their smiles, their voices… the memory of pain and loss tore at him again, but also gave him a strange reason to keep going.
— "I must… I must reach Eris… maybe then I'll understand something… or maybe… maybe I'll be able to change something…" he whispered, his voice lost between the rustle of grass and the echo of his own madness.
And so, torn from reality, his mind tangled in delirium, rage, and despair, Renji set off once more toward the tavern.