Everyone struggled to hide their astonishment.
"What is this?"
"Is this golden light the source?"
"I don't know why, but it feels… familiar."
"Same here. Could our traversal through time and space be connected to this golden light?"
Suddenly, someone cried out, "There's something inside!"
They focused their gaze and saw a scroll.
It floated quietly within the golden glow, no larger than a palm. Compared to the radiant light surrounding it, it looked small and delicate, easy to overlook.
"Take it out and have a look!"
"Hold on, dude," Mia said worriedly. "Could it be dangerous?"
Elliott spoke solemnly. "This is our only clue for now. I'll take it. If anything happens, remember to hold a grand funeral for me when you get back to Earth. Oh—and don't forget to invite my crush, Sandy Cheeks. She lives in the Treedome at Bikini Bottom, Pacific."
As he spoke, he reached into the sphere of light and took out the scroll. Fortunately, nothing unusual happened.
Only then did everyone see the scroll clearly. It was made of some kind of white gemstone.
"Hurry up, open it," someone urged.
Elliott unfolded the scroll as instructed.
When they saw what was written on it—
"Damn it… this, this—how is this possible?" someone exclaimed in shock.
"Was everything already arranged?"
Alex stared fixedly at the contents. The scroll was composed of eleven pieces of white gemstone, and on each piece was carved a name:
Elliott, Mia, Levi, Yasmine, Xyla, Zoey, Wyatt, Gavin, Heidi, Simon, and Alex.
"Why are our names on it?"
"This is too strange… it feels like fate itself decided this long ago…"
The group stared at the scroll, pondering its meaning. They had thought that obtaining the scroll would reveal the answer to their crossing time and space. Instead, it offered no explanation at all—the mystery only deepened.
Alex said, "Let's put the scroll away for now. It might be useful later. This palace is huge—let's explore elsewhere."
He wanted to find the source of the black thread and see whether it led to some other object.
"Pass it around first," Elliott said. "Once everyone's checked it, I'll store it." He handed the scroll to the others.
The scroll itself seemed ordinary in appearance, but what shocked them most was the sensation it gave when held—a faint, indescribable connection to their own bodies.
After the scroll had been passed around once, Elliott carefully tucked it into an inner pocket of his clothing. No one objected. Someone had to carry it, and Elliott was clearly the most suitable choice.
With that settled, they began exploring the palace. Alex led the way, following the guidance of the black thread up to the second floor.
The second floor was much like the first, with the same kind of screen. But behind the screen there was no golden light—only a mass of black radiance. Strangely, the others seemed completely unaware of it.
Alex stared at the black glow. As if entranced, he stepped forward and reached into it. In the next instant, his body shuddered violently, convulsing uncontrollably. The whites of his eyes were dyed black, like a bottomless abyss.
His skin also turned an eerie black. A strange and mysterious power was reshaping his body, pushing it toward some unknowable direction.
"What's wrong with you?" Mia's voice reached his ears as she shook his shoulders hard.
Alex suddenly came to his senses. "What just happened to me?"
"You suddenly started convulsing," Mia replied, worry evident in her eyes. "Did you encounter some kind of supernatural force again?"
"I'm fine." Alex sensed the changes in his body, shook his head, and said, "It's just my my ..old ailment."
A flicker of something passed through a few people's eyes, but they all breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it wasn't something bad. One incident had already wiped out more than half of them—if it happened again, no one knew how many would remain.
After regaining full control of his body, Alex realized that something new had appeared within him—a talent called "The Contract."
He accepted this talent naturally, as if it had always been part of him.
Yet he had no idea what it actually did. There were no hints or explanations. All he knew was that it was called the Contract, born from the transformation brought about by the black light.
At the same time, two strange items appeared in his mind: a piece of parchment and a feather quill.
Alex felt that he could summon the parchment at any time, but now was not the moment to study it. Surviving came first.
"There's still a third floor in this palace. Let's go up and take a look," a seductive voice said.
Alex's thoughts churned. Following the voice, he saw Zoey, the sultry woman.
If I can see black threads that others can't, he thought, could it be that some people can see different kinds of guidance as well?
He set the thought aside for now and followed the group up to the third floor.
Upon reaching it—
"What is this?" someone said.
An altar stood before them, covered in complex symbols and chaotic lines. Around it, countless strange characters flickered. Each time they flashed, the altar grew brighter.
As they stared at it, everyone felt a deep sense of awe. Vaguely, they sensed that this altar might be their hope of escape.
At the same time, the lines at the center of the altar began to glow, gradually forming a massive, mysterious magic array. A strange force pulsed outward.
"Why can't I move my body…?"
"Me neither—I've lost control!"
No one could move. Fear surged through them, yet there was nothing they could do.
Within the array, light flowed ceaselessly. Countless arcane symbols flickered, and after the ancient characters around the perimeter flashed dozens more times, all the symbols lit up at once, bursting into blinding brilliance.
When the light finally faded, the array dimmed—and not a single person remained.
Moments later, the entire palace shifted from solid to illusory once more, dissolving into countless points of golden light that scattered across the land.
Within the fog, a massive magic array appeared on the ground, and the vanished group reappeared abruptly.
But when they looked around, they froze like statues.
The land looked as though it had been soaked in ink, pitch-black in color. Only a few unknown weeds struggled stubbornly out of the soil. Visibility extended no more than ten meters; beyond that was nothing but gray haze.
"This is… where are we? Did we… escape from that place?" The speaker's voice trembled.
"Why do I feel like this place is even worse than that forest?" someone complained.
"This isn't a forest. Where are we? Did that magic array make us traverse time and space again?" Panic spread across many faces. There was no joy of escape—only unease and a growing sense of dread.
Then, in the next instant, the scroll tucked in Elliott's chest pocket floated out on its own. It released an overwhelming golden radiance, illuminating the sky, dispersing the surrounding fog, and forming a golden barrier that held the mist at bay.
As the fog cleared, a desolate and vast landscape came into view. Scattered across the ground stood massive boulders, with sparse trees and weeds growing thinly across the barren ground.