Hearing those words, Liam immediately thought about them. Then he realized their meaning.
"Does he know that I'm not the real Zavi? That's impossible... there's no way he could know," Liam whispered in panic.
Liam closed the door once more, anxiety filling his mind. He returned to his chair and began writing something.
Five minutes later, he tore a sheet of paper from the notebook, containing the plans he intended to carry out next.
Searching for memories, and other things, he would remain in this world no matter the reason; he had no intention of returning to Earth.
He lifted the paper and read it once again, checking for mistakes or errors. There were none. Feeling satisfied, he stood and walked toward the left, heading to the wardrobe.
The wardrobe door opened, and he slipped the paper into the pocket of his coat. After closing it, he walked toward the bed and prepared to sleep, waiting for morning to arrive.
October 21. Sunday. 07:30 AM
Liam had actually woken up earlier that day, but for some reason, after having a nightmare about something strange and illogical, he moved to the living room and fell asleep face-down on the sofa.
Even Isabelle, who had left the house at 07:00 to go to school, did not notice Liam's presence in the living room.
By coincidence, at that same moment, his mother entered the living room to take her bag from the hanger behind the sofa where Liam was sleeping. Unexpectedly, she saw her son fast asleep on the couch, his face buried against the pillow.
Just as she was about to wake Liam up, her foot stepped on something. She looked down and saw a wooden door beneath her feet. From the unique carvings on it, she immediately knew the door belonged to Ren's room.
'Why is this door here?' The question made Mei's thoughts pause for a moment.
Confused, she slowly woke Liam up. "Wake up, dear. Did you stay up all night writing job applications again?" she said while gently shaking his body.
Feeling something touching him, Liam slowly opened his eyes, catching the faint light entering through the ventilation before staring at the cloudy sky through the half-open window.
He tried to sit up while holding his neck, which suddenly felt stiff and sore, probably from sleeping in the wrong position. He wasn't sure, but he tried to hide the pain from his mother.
"What time is it now, Mom?" he asked with a yawn.
'It feels like I'm really talking to my own mother.' Liam thought with a faint smile, even though he still didn't understand how he had actually entered this body, but somehow it filled the emptiness in his heart.
His mother took out a pocket watch from her handbag, glanced at it briefly, then said, "It's already 07:35," while holding the watch in front of Liam's face.
Liam immediately took the pocket watch gently and checked it himself. Realizing that he had slept for more than two hours after first waking up because of the discomfort from the nightmare, he returned the watch and hurried to the kitchen to fill his now growling stomach.
His mother looked surprised, then smiled at her son's behavior. As she turned around, she suddenly realized she had forgotten to ask why Ren's bedroom door was in the living room.
"Zavi... did you fight with your brother again?" she asked, her voice full of concern and gentleness.
Even though Ren was not her biological child, she cared deeply for him and treated him like her own son ever since her husband passed away.
From the kitchen to the left of the living room, Liam peeked out from the doorway and answered, "No. I think you're overthinking it."
Mei fell silent for a moment before speaking once again to make sure. "But why is his bedroom door under the sofa in the living room?"
Liam's mind went blank for a moment as his pupils widened after hearing that statement.
'I don't know anything about that either.' His body trembled uncontrollably as the image of a mysterious black figure flashed through his mind.
"I don't know. I'll fix it myself later..."
"Alright... don't do anything reckless. And don't forget to ask someone else for help." She shook her head briefly.
"Okay," Liam shouted from the dining room and kitchen.
After that, his mother struggled to lift the door, placing it in front of the shelf where books and other belongings were stored, then hurried off to the market in the town square, realizing that it was Sunday, the day when the market there became more crowded than usual.
In the room that connected the kitchen and dining area, Liam sat in a chair, his thoughts in turmoil as he stared blankly at the dining table filled with various delicious dishes.
'Now that I think about it again. Why was that door there? This is strange. Really strange.' Liam thought, trembling slightly.
'About the shadow silhouette I saw yesterday, after thinking about it more carefully, I'm certain it wasn't a human shadow.' He had already felt something was wrong the moment he first saw it, and the nightmare only added to the burden he had been carrying all this time.
The shadow was different from an ordinary human shadow, slightly larger, with a pair of wings folded tightly on its back.
Honestly, he didn't want to think about it anymore.
He immediately raised his head. After thinking for a moment, he began to eat, tasting flavors he had never experienced before on Earth and also... inside a prison cell. The food was wrapped in a unique leaf native to Moran called Kele, filled with rice, chunks of meat, eggs, and vegetables such as peas, carrots, cabbage, lettuce, and celery leaves.
Exactly at 08:00, he finished eating, carried the dirty plates to the sink, washed them clean while thinking about the earlier events, then neatly arranged them back on the rack afterward.
His breathing and stomach felt far calmer than before. He walked to the living room, picked up the door, and returned it to Ren's room.
After placing it there, he searched for tools in the storage room to repair it. The moment the storage room door opened, dust scattered into the air and hit his face.
As the dust entered through his nose, he could not hold back the reaction rising within him, and the dust went deeper into his lungs.
Huft...
Just from looking at it alone, it was obvious that the storage room had not been entered or cleaned by the Zavi family for a very long time.
"Are the tools even still here?" he muttered quietly.
'Yeah, I know this is strange. About what I experienced this morning, I heard the sound of heavy rhythmic footsteps, accompanied by a long whistle that echoed with every step, and regarding those memories of death, it seems like I'll have to investigate them myself so I won't keep being haunted by fear anymore.' he thought, confused about the incident before dawn. Liam's body suddenly stiffened as his entire body trembled all at once.
After searching for a while, Liam found a hammer, screwdriver, chisel, and sandpaper inside a box on top of a large shelf. He took it, checked the contents, and carried the box back to Ren's room.
Liam repaired the door himself. Even though it was difficult, and even though he only had a little experience back on Earth, he kept trying. Twenty-five minutes later, the door was installed back in place like before.
'Damn. This is harder than I thought. But where is he now? Could he be wandering around again?' Liam could not find an answer to his brother's behavior.
Even though he knew Ren was only his stepbrother, Liam would still try to treat him like a real older brother.
After struggling for so long, he could finally breathe in relief. He thought about checking whether the small repair had made the door function properly.
Even though it was slightly damaged and produced an unpleasant creaking sound, Liam decided to return the toolbox to the storage rack in the shed behind the house. After that, he went to the bathroom to wash his dirty hands and take a bath.
Doing all of that turned out to be enough to erase the strange thoughts haunting him. He decided to lie down in his room for a while, feeling as if there was nothing else left to do. Everything felt quiet and purposeless.
But the moment he entered, his gaze landed on the desk. A notebook was lying there.
His eyes widened. Liam immediately remembered what he had written the night before. To recover his memories from Earth along with the unclear fragments of Zavi's memories that had overlapped with his original ones, and after doing all of that, he would enjoy his life.
He immediately opened his wardrobe, took out a black jacket, and put it on with measured movements.
Two minutes later. He stepped out of his room and locked the front door so his younger sister would not enter and discover his secret that he was no longer the brother they once knew.
Liam wore classic clothes, a black jacket with a white shirt underneath, and safely stored the room key inside the pocket of his black jacket.
His fingertips briefly touched the cold metal before he took a deep breath and stepped out of the narrow alley separating the house from the road where people and horse-drawn vehicles passed by.
The city's air greeted him with a mixture of horse scent, thin smoke, and damp earth. He walked toward the library on Cosdever Street No. 01, which was quite far from Vica Street No. 11, where he lived.
Liam's steps remained steady amidst the crowded sidewalks. Shoulders brushed against each other. Conversations overlapped. Along the stone road, horse carriages passed by, hooves stepping over dry stones mixed with mud, wooden wheels creaking loudly along the curves of the street.
'It feels like I've moved into a world similar to nineteenth-century Earth,' Liam thought while observing his surroundings.
Every house building with chimneys still releasing thick black smoke stood close together, their windows tall and narrow. Yet still comfortable enough to live in. Some men wore long coats and round hats, while women wore dresses and classic clothing with long wide skirts.
A few seconds later, he arrived at the intersection where horse carriages usually stopped and gathered. A horse flicked its tail restlessly, its breath faintly misting in the air.
As he turned his head, his gaze suddenly stopped for a moment. On the dim shop terrace crowded with passing people, there was someone acting strangely. Their face was hidden within the building's shadow as if they harbored malicious intent toward one of the passersby. Only their eyes were clearly visible, open, silent, staring directly at him as though observing him.
"Hah!?"
Liam instinctively quickened his pace. He moved toward the crowd ahead of him, slipping between two men in flat caps leaning beside a carriage wheel. One of them was calming a horse that was neighing softly for no clear reason.
While covering part of his face with his arm, Liam said calmly, "Can you take me to the Kyomi library?"
The man in the flat cap lowered the brim of his hat before answering in a raspy voice, "The fare might be more expensive. Around 3 Pace, maybe 5 Pace from here to there."
Liam fell silent for a moment, calculating in his head. "Fine. Better get moving quickly."
'5 Pace? If I convert it to Earth currency, maybe it's around the price of two meals back where I lived during school?' he thought, trying to interpret the currency of this world and the Earth he once lived on.
The man stretched his stiff back, patted his companion's shoulder, then informed him of the destination. He gestured for Liam to enter before the horse started moving.
The inside of the covered carriage was decorated with intricate symbols belonging to the Kingdom of Norn carved into the outer frame of the carriage, carvings that looked foreign yet symmetrical, like ancient emblems that had existed for ages. And all of it came from the proposal of Moran's main church; Morotuane, which worshipped one of the nine gods; Auneron, the bearer of fortune and virtue.
The moment he sat down, something pressed against his chest. Reflexively, he opened the small curtain behind him.
'Where did that person go? Was he watching me, or is this just my strange intuition?' Liam thought suspiciously, then knocked twice on the carriage wall from inside before the carriage truly began moving.
But that misunderstanding could have turned fatal if it had not been properly clarified. The man Liam had suspected earlier was merely waiting for a pamphlet from his friend, too embarrassed to show himself to people while receiving it.
At last, the carriage moved forward.
'Now that I think about it, I remember the logo on that man's clothes. But where from?'
A few minutes later, he got off at the intersection of Cosdever Street No. 1. He paid the agreed fare, then walked away without looking back.
The sidewalks here were cleaner. The buildings looked larger, their windows decorated with thin stained glass. In the distance, two cathedral towers rose high, piercing the pale sky, their bells ringing every ten minutes, mourning the mysterious deaths that had occurred in Moran yesterday, Saturday.
After walking for several minutes, he arrived in front of a massive iron gate, behind which stood a magnificent building and beautiful facilities that left him stunned and speechless for a few moments.
A grand building with a gleaming stone facade. A beautiful garden surrounded it, neat and symmetrical. In the middle of the pathway stood a tall fountain, its water flowing calmly, becoming the center of attention for every visitor.
After waking up at dawn around an hour earlier, he had dreamed of two things. First, about Zavi's death. Second, a dream that woke him drenched in sweat after hearing strange whispers that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, though afterward he could no longer remember them.
Liam could not hide his fear, forcing himself to remain calm and act normal while conducting his investigation alone.
'This can't be a coincidence.' That thought was what made him determined not to panic.
He stood in front of the open iron gate, observing elderly people, teenagers, and children accompanied by their mothers passing through the gate and entering the KYomi library.
Liam smiled politely at the guards and continued toward the main entrance. The moment he stepped inside, the first thing that greeted him was a gigantic chandelier.
He glanced at the building's layout, then moved to the left, passing rows of tall massive bookshelves while searching for informative texts. After a long search, he found a book that seemed suitable.
"Is this really the right one?" he muttered quietly.
However, after only ten seconds of reading, a cold voice pierced his ears. His body instinctively froze as he slowly turned to the side, facing a man and a woman.
"So you finally came too, Zavi," Leo murmured, his former classmate.
Leo Zilvera, together with a woman named Forn Vinora, walked toward him, and both of their gazes were fixed on Liam. They were Zavi's classmates from Vamaeora High School in the Tezny district, downtown.
Liam fell silent for a moment before asking hesitantly, "Were you two looking for me?"
'Weren't they classmates from Zavi's second and third years back in school? Why are they here?' Liam thought nervously, unsure what to do, feeling that something unpleasant was waiting for him.
"Oh. Leo just happened to see you," Forn answered, her black hair tied back, her brown eyes remaining calm as she continued, "Actually, he was planning to visit your house, but he changed his mind after accidentally seeing you enter the library. It's rare to see you wanting to read."
Liam laughed softly, acting like a genuine friend.
'Eh, I don't know. He probably wants to invite me somewhere, right? A reunion to strengthen our friendship?' Liam frowned, unable to believe the situation had changed so quickly.
Their meeting was brief. Liam chose to excuse himself, not wanting too much interaction in case his identity as someone else was exposed. However, they did not let him leave so easily.
Instead, they immediately revealed their true intention of spending time together somewhere, since it had been around two and a half years since they last met, chatted, and laughed together.
His fingers became sweaty, his breath caught in his throat from the discomfort of constantly being pressured to follow them, irritated that people inside the library were beginning to focus their attention on him.
Then, hesitantly, he decided to step back, leaving his two friends with somewhat awkward expressions.
Liam stopped and turned around. For a brief moment, he saw an indescribable and rather gloomy expression on their faces. He let out a long sigh and reluctantly said, "Alright, alright. When is this outing going to happen?" he asked while watching their bright expressions filled with happy smiles.
They approached Liam, and Leo whispered the meeting location, a mystical place, a sacred and pleasant one. The meeting point was a park in the Tezny district, Ahiston Street No. 12.
Liam nodded, pausing for a moment to remember the place mentioned. After that, they said goodbye, reminding him not to be late to the meeting point.
The two of them returned to what they were supposed to do, namely preparing themselves.
"Yeah, alright," Liam replied with a flat expression.
From afar, Liam watched their backs as they exited through the library's main entrance. Then he returned to the bookshelf where he had been reading earlier and continued until he finished the book.
"What does all of this mean?" he muttered in shock while holding his chin. "What kind of strange conflict is this? And the discovery of corpses with black spots on their necks?"
'It feels like this has something to do with me?' he thought suspiciously.
'Underground organizations, terrorists, heretical cults, and groups of strange people attacking important facilities in Moran including the cathedral. Chaos in Sanerva. The fall of a noble. What the hell are they actually thinking?'
Liam's eyes widened slightly. He did not know whether incidents like this were common in this world.
Then he flipped through the book even further, shocked because it recorded both past and present events. Unlike his home on Earth, the history written in every book here was incredibly strange and diverse.
The book Liam was holding, titled "Mysteries and the Inverted World," detailed the beginning of the Star Calendar era around the 800s. It was an age of war, cultural discrimination, and religion everywhere, and more specifically, hatred toward brown-eyed people who tended to be tall with somewhat straight hair, people referred to as the "Demons from Hell," who existed during the Star Calendar era, the era known for the tailed star or a comet.
"Isn't that cruel?" Liam nodded and muttered unconsciously. "But there must've been a reason for it, or maybe it was simply to satisfy their desires and impulses?" he continued softly, shivering after reading several paragraphs on page fifty.
Wars and the mystery of petrified corpses were clearly recorded in the book. A beautiful world hidden behind the mountains emerged during that era. The appearance of nine strange individuals, each bearing their own unique title.
King of the Chemical Prisoners.
The Elusive Sorcerer.
Rhythm Mystical.
Black Flame Ordeal.
White Foggy Night.
The Banishing Naraka.
The other three were never recorded, but the public still learned of them through the six documented figures, though it remained secretive and very few people actually knew about it.
More than five hundred years ago, those events were still clearly recorded in this book, and one line on page 50 described a brutal massacre in several regions committed by the brown-eyed human race against several blue-eyed races, including Zavi, dark brown-eyed races, gray-eyed races, and black-eyed races, who were supposedly connected to non-human creatures.