In the center of the dark chamber, Lucien knelt within the faded remains of the dimensional array.
The old magic circle had once been drawn in Cassian's own blood. Now, only thin, dried crimson lines remained across the marble floor, barely visible beneath a layer of dust and the scattered fragments of broken relics.
Lucien wore simple black leather armor. The silver emblem of House Arden had been completely removed from his breastplate. There was nothing left on his person to identify him as a Duke, a Holy Knight, or the Sword of the Church. He had stripped himself of all of it.
His long silver hair was tied loosely behind his head, though several stray strands had fallen across his pale face. Dark circles surrounded his hollow eyes. He looked exhausted enough to collapse at any moment, yet there was something frighteningly alive burning behind his stare.
Hope. A small, stubborn thing that had refused to die.
Around him lay stacks upon stacks of forbidden manuscripts, ancient scrolls, and half-rotted books concerning spatial rifts, soul migration, and dimensional travel.
And tonight, it was finally time to take his long awaited dimensional journey.
Lucien slowly lifted his head toward the silent room.
"Jerga."
The dark shadow residing inside his consciousness stirred from its sleep.
["Hmm?"]
"Do you know where his original home is?" Lucien asked, his voice low and raspy.
For several long seconds, Jerga said nothing at all. Then, the demon laughed softly inside his mind.
["I believe he called it Earth."]
Lucien's fingers tightened around the rough edge of the parchment in his hand.
["It is a strange little world, really,"]
Jerga continued, his tone dripping with dark amusement.
["No mana flowing through the air. No monsters in the forests. No swords. No grand imperial courts... Just ordinary humans living as they please. That sounds very peaceful for weak humans like yourselves, doesn't it?"]
Jerga's voice became almost playful as he dug deeper into the memories.
["He remembered enormous towers made of glass that touched the clouds. Long roads filled with fast metal machines. Bright lights burning brightly without fire. He spent hours quietly remembering things I couldn't even begin to understand."]
Lucien listened to every word without blinking, his chest tight.
Then came the words that made his heart stop beating for a full second.
["And his real name was Kagen Walker."]
Lucien's lips parted slightly in pure shock.
"Kagen..."
He whispered the foreign name softly, as though afraid that speaking it too loudly might make it disappear into the air.
"Kagen Walker."
For the very first time, the man Lucien loved had a name that belonged entirely to himself. Not Prince Cassian Valemont. Not Crown Prince of the Empire. Not the supposed villain of the kingdom.
But Kagen Walker.
A young man who had belonged to another world long before Lucien had ever met him.
Lucien lowered his gaze to the dark floor.
"So he really was telling the truth..."
Memories flooded his mind all at once—Cassian's strange, distant expressions and the quiet, lonely moments when he had softly said that he didn't belong in this world. The way he had once looked toward the night stars and whispered that there was somewhere he desperately needed to return to.
Lucien had thought those words were simply another part of Cassian's mysterious nature. But now, they felt like painful clues he had been too blind to understand back then.
Suddenly–
Jerga chuckled darkly in his mind.
["There is something else you should understand before you do something stupid, Holy Knight."]
Lucien looked up, his expression hard.
["Forcing your conscious soul through a broken spatial rift without a strong anchor is extraordinarily dangerous."]
A dark, smoky tendril emerged from the shadows behind Lucien, floating in the air.
["Your fragile soul could easily be torn apart between the dimensions."]
Another tendril slowly curled around one of the ancient books on the floor.
["You could lose every single one of your memories and you could arrive somewhere that isn't Earth at all."]
Then Jerga's voice became mocking and light.
["Or you could simply die in the dark void."]
Lucien stared straight at the center of the magic array. His expression didn't change at all.
"There is no time left to waste."
He rose slowly from the floor, his joints popping from sitting so long.
"I spent days believing Cassian had abandoned me,"
Lucien said, his voice trembling slightly with heavy emotion.
"And he spent those exact same days believing that I hated him."
His gloved hand closed tightly around the authentic letter Cassian had left behind.
"He suffered because someone used my name to destroy his trust in me, and I need to fix that mistake."
"And I will not let him suffer all alone anymore."
Jerga laughed out loud inside his head.
["And what if your soul shatters into pieces during the jump?"]
Lucien stepped directly into the center of the blood-stained array.
"Then it shatters."
He looked toward the darkened glass window of the chamber, watching the rain hit the glass.
"I've already lost him once," his voice dropped into a desperate whisper. "I won't lose him twice."
["Mhm... and what if he does not want to come back with you?"]
A deep silence fell over the room for a long while. Lucien took a deep breath and let out a slow sigh.
"Then I will spend my whole life in his world instead."
["Unfortunately for you, there is no guarantee that you will be able to stay on Earth for that long,"] Jerga pointed out, his tone turning serious.
["After all, in another dimension without a proper physical vessel, your foreign soul will be merely an unwelcome bug—a spatial abnormality that could cause severe casualties."]
"Then I will spend whatever short time I have there convincing him to come back to Edrath," Lucien said firmly, his voice absolute.
"I have to."
That night, another violent storm descended upon the capital of Edrath.
Heavy thunder rolled across the sky, shaking the imperial city. Heavy rain hammered against the enormous glass windows of Lucien's private chamber, while bright lightning repeatedly illuminated the dark room in flashes of white.
At the center of the marble floor, the ancient dimensional array began to awaken.
One line lit up with a dim glow. Then another. Then another.
Crimson light crawled rapidly across the floor tiles like living veins of fire.
Lucien stood completely motionless within the center of the circle. In his right hand, he held a small leather pouch filled with pure soul-stones. In his left hand was Cassian's precious letter. The parchment had been folded and unfolded so many times over the past weeks that its edges were beginning to soften and tear.
Lucien pressed the paper tightly against his bare chest, right over his heart.
Jerga's voice echoed loudly through his mind as the mana in the room began to spin.
["Once you cross over this rift, you will have absolutely nothing."]
Lucien remained silent, standing tall.
["No noble title."]
The blood-red array brightened drastically, blindingly bright.
["No political authority."]
The dark soul-stones inside the pouch began floating into the air around his head.
["And no Holy Order to command."]
Lucien finally let out a soft breath and smiled faintly.
"I don't need any of those useless things."
His eyes slowly closed.
"I only need him."
The magic circle suddenly erupted with violent power.
*BOOM!*
The massive glass windows rattled violently in their frames. The candles around the room instantly went out, and the entire stone chamber shook as if hit by an earthquake.
Jerga's voice grew louder and sharper beneath the roar of the thunder.
["There is another major problem, Holy Knight!"]
Lucien snapped his eyes open.
"What is it?"
["Time!"]
A swirling vortex of violet light began twisting rapidly around Lucien's body.
["Time does not flow equally between these two different worlds!"]
Lucien listened carefully over the rushing wind.
["Three days on Earth will pass as roughly three weeks here in Edrath!"]
The surrounding air grew heavier, pressing against his lungs.
["Three weeks there will become three months back here!"]
The floating soul-stones began cracking one by one under the immense spatial pressure.
["Three months there..."] Jerga paused deliberately, letting the weight of the words sink in. ["...will become approximately three long years back here."]
Lucien's face tightened in panic.
"So how much time do I have to spend on Earth?"
["Three months on Earth."]
["That is your absolute limit before your soul breaks!"]
"That's not enough time!"
"Why couldn't it be the other way around instead?, Three months in Edrath and three years on Earth with him?"
["Oh well what can we do about it?"] Jerga mocked.
["Your foolish gods are the ones who caused this spatial mess in the first place."]
Lucien grit his teeth through the pressure.
"Then I need to find him within a week or two of arriving."
["Which is precisely why you're lucky to have me inside your head."]
Lucien frowned deeply.
Jerga laughed darkly.
["I've tasted his memories, Lucien. I know the exact shape and scent of his soul. Finding him in that big world won't be difficult for me."]
The demon's voice lowered into a cold whisper.
["But there is still one more concern you need to think about."]
Lucien's dark expression grew even colder.
"The original Cassian."
A short silence followed.
["Exactly."]
Lucien turned his head slightly toward the darkened corner of the chamber.
The original Cassian's sleeping body remained lying in the adjoining room, sustained by ancient stasis magic, his breathing shallow but steady.
"If I leave this world..."
["The original soul could wake up and claim the body back."]
Lucien's jaw tightened until it hurt.
"Can you prevent that from happening?"
Jerga sounded almost offended by the question.
["Please. Do you really think I have been sitting inside your body all this time without learning anything useful?"] A dark, cruel laugh echoed through Lucien's skull.
["His original soul is deeply dormant. I reinforced the seal myself while you were reading those boring books."]
Lucien's eyes narrowed dangerously. "And why would you do something like that?"
["Because I'm not stupid,"] Jerga sounded thoroughly delighted.
["That vessel is far too useful to me to let it get taken away."]
"If you touch his physical body while I am gone, I'll find a way to kill you."
["You can't kill me,"] Jerga purred softly. ["Not anymore."]
Lucien ignored the direct provocation with a sharp exhale, controlling his temper.
"If the real Cassian wakes up while I'm gone, what happens?"
["He won't wake up."]
"And what about the child inside him?"
For once, Jerga's voice lost its usual teasing, playful edge, turning completely flat.
["The magic seedlings within him are keeping his vessel alive. Destroying the physical vessel would destroy them too, so I won't touch it."]
Lucien's fingers tightened harder around Cassian's letter.
"Then keep him asleep," Lucien commanded coldly. "Once my Cassian is safely back with me, I will let you feast on the original soul."
["Then, consider it done."]
Lucien exhaled slowly, trying to settle his racing heart.
"Good."
The ancient array suddenly screamed.
The ancient runes carved into the floor emitted a high, unnatural screeching sound that seemed to tear through reality itself.
The heavy marble tiles beneath Lucien's boots cracked into pieces. The very space surrounding his body began folding inward like crumpled paper.
For one terrifying, brilliant moment, the walls of the room dissolved, and Lucien could see a vision of something far beyond the palace.
Not another room. Not another kingdom.
A massive, glowing city.
Towering buildings covered in reflective glass reached up toward the night sky. Thousands of artificial lights burned in brilliant colors. Long strings of moving metal vehicles zoomed along flat black roads below.
It was a strange, unbelievable world unlike anything he had ever seen or imagined.
And then—
The vision vanished instantly.
Lucien's heart slammed wildly against his ribs as he panted for air.
"Earth..." he gasped, stepping forward instinctively.
Jerga laughed in his ear.
["Don't get distracted now!"]
The remaining vision vanished completely.
Lucien lifted Cassian's crumpled letter to his pale lips in the dark. His sharp eyes softened with pure, devotion.
"I will find you, Cassian," he whispered into the storm.
A single tear slipped down his pale cheek, catching the violet light.
"Wherever you are hiding in that world, I will definitely find you."
He kissed the parchment once, pressing his lips against Cassian's handwriting. Then he kissed it a second time.
"Just wait for me."
The dimensional array exploded into a blinding wave of violet light.
*KRAAAAAAASH!*
Every single glass window in the massive chamber shattered simultaneously, showering the floor in sharp crystal shards. A massive column of raw violet energy erupted violently from the marble floor, tearing straight through the stone ceiling and punching directly into the dark storm clouds above the palace.
For a single heartbeat, Lucien's tall silhouette stood motionless inside the beam of light.
Then, an invisible force seized him.
His body was violently pulled upward into the air. His long silver hair whipped madly around his face in the wild wind. His black leather armor began breaking apart into tiny, floating particles of light.
Lucien didn't scream out in pain or fear. He simply held onto Cassian's paper letter with both hands, pressing it against his chest.
"CASSIAN—!"
The dark dimensional rift swallowed him whole before he could finish shouting the name.
The massive violet pillar vanished in an instant. The loud thunder outside stopped echoing. The heavy rain hitting the roof suddenly went silent.
And the destroyed chamber fell into total, heavy darkness.
Where Lucien had been standing just moments before, there was nothing left. Only a thin, round layer of cold gray ash remained upon the cracked marble floor.
And deep within the lingering darkness of the quiet room, Jerga's faint, mischievous voice whispered one final warning into the empty air:
["Well, Holy Knight..."]
["Let's see whether your precious love is truly worth crossing worlds for."]
*****