The statue smiled.
For a moment, neither Zekai nor Aron moved.
The expression looked wrong on a face made of stone. It wasn't merely a crack that happened to resemble a smile. The corners of its mouth had actually lifted, revealing a row of worn stone teeth.
Zekai's expression hardened. "It was facing the palace before."
He didn't take his eyes off it. "Now it faces us."
Aron forced out a weak laugh, but the sound broke halfway. His gaze remained fixed on the enormous guardian statue.
"Mr. Zekai... just looking at this thing gives me chills." Then his eyes drifted toward the darkness beyond the ruined gate.
"...Why does it feel like something is watching us from inside?" His body leaned backward almost instinctively.
Zekai understood the feeling. The courtyard had been silent since they arrived, but this silence was different now. It no longer felt empty.
It felt patient. Then—
The stone serpent coiled around the guardian's neck moved.
Crk.
Its head slowly lifted from the statue's shoulder.
Aron's eyes widened. Two green points of light appeared inside its stone eyes. They glowed once. Then—
The serpent lunged.
"Aron!"
Aron couldn't move. His mind had simply stopped.
The enormous stone jaws were already racing toward his face, yet his body refused to respond. His arms remained at his sides. His eyes widened as the serpent filled his entire vision.
Zekai moved before he could think. He slammed his shoulder into Aron's side.
"Move!" Both of them were thrown sideways.
The serpent's jaws snapped shut where Aron's head had been a fraction of a second earlier.
CRASH!
Stone fangs smashed into the courtyard floor, sending fragments flying.
Zekai rolled across the ground and immediately pushed himself upright. Aron stumbled to his feet beside him, still pale. "W-What was that?!"
"No time." Zekai grabbed his hand.
"Run!" They sprinted toward the palace entrance. For the first few steps, Aron followed without question. Then he glanced over his shoulder.
The serpent was already pulling itself free. Its long stone body coiled around the guardian statue, grinding against the ancient stone as it turned toward them.
It hadn't been damaged. It hadn't even slowed down. "Mr. Zekai!"
"I know!"
They ran harder.
The palace entrance was directly ahead. Massive doors stood beneath another enormous statue—a warrior holding a gigantic sword horizontally across its body.
For one brief moment, Zekai thought they had found shelter.
Then the warrior statue moved. Its stone head turned toward them.
Aron's face went white. "No!"
The enormous sword began to rise. It was blocking the entrance.
Zekai nearly screamed. "No..." His eyes darted between the sword-bearing statue and the serpent racing toward them. "They won't reach us."
Zekai saw the serpent's jaws opening behind him. His fear didn't disappear. His mind simply pushed it aside, forcing him to observe.
The sword statue was enormous. Its legs were planted apart, leaving a wide gap beneath its body. The opening was just large enough for a person to pass through if they lowered themselves completely.
Zekai's eyes traced the distance. Height. Width. The serpent's speed. The sword's position. The gap.
'We can do it.' He tightened his grip around Aron's hand.
"Aron. Do exactly what I say."
The serpent was almost upon them. Its jaws opened behind Aron, revealing rows of stone fangs. Zekai's fear vanished beneath calculation.
Aron didn't argue. He simply nodded frantically. "If I die here..." Aron swallowed hard. "At least I won't die alone."
The serpent lunged. Its jaws snapped toward Aron's back.
Zekai waited. Closer. Closer.
The serpent's fangs were almost touching the fabric of Aron's shirt.
Now.
Zekai yanked Aron's hand toward him and spun him around.
"Go!"
Using the serpent's momentum against it, Zekai shoved Aron toward the gap beneath the sword-bearing statue.
"W-Wait—!"
Aron dropped instinctively, throwing himself beneath the massive stone body. His shoulder scraped against the ground as he slid through the narrow opening.
THUD!
He rolled across the stone floor and came to a stop several meters inside the palace. "Oww..."
Aron looked down at himself. Nothing seemed broken. "I'm alive..."
Slowly, it withdrew, its massive body coiling tightly around the serpent-bearing guardian once more. Its green eyes remained fixed on Aron through the palace entrance.
Zekai noticed immediately.
It won't cross.
He narrowed his eyes.
The serpent wasn't hesitating. It wasn't afraid. It simply couldn't. Something about the palace was stopping it.
Zekai didn't have time to wonder why. The serpent turned. Its attention shifted completely toward him.
"...Of course." Zekai stepped backward.
The serpent lunged from behind him.
At the same instant, the sword-bearing guardian moved.
Its enormous blade swept horizontally across the entrance.
Zekai's eyes widened.
The serpent was coming from one side. The sword was coming from the other.
There was nowhere to run. Then he saw it. The gap beneath the statue.
'There.'
Zekai dropped his body.
The serpent's jaws snapped above his head. The sword screamed through the air overhead.
Zekai tucked his body completely and threw himself forward. His shoulder struck the stone floor. He slid beneath the statue's legs, sparks scraping from the buckle of his coat as he crossed the threshold.
The sword slammed into the opposite wall.
BOOOOOOM!
Stone exploded across the entrance. Zekai rolled several times before crashing beside Aron.
Both men froze. For a few seconds, neither spoke. Then Zekai pushed himself upright.
"Close it!"
Aron scrambled toward the massive doors. Together they grabbed the ancient handles and pulled. Nothing. They pulled harder. The doors didn't move even an inch.
"Come on!"
Aron gritted his teeth. "It's not moving!"
"I know!"
They tried again. Nothing. The two of them eventually stopped, breathing heavily. Slowly, they turned around.
The serpent stood outside. Its enormous body remained coiled around the guardian statue, its green eyes staring through the entrance.
The sword-bearing statue had returned to its original position. Neither creature crossed the threshold.
They simply watched from the other side of the threshold. They weren't pursuing them. They were waiting.
Aron swallowed. "...Why aren't they coming?"
Zekai stared at them. "I don't know."
The serpent's eyes narrowed. For some reason, it seemed almost frustrated.
Zekai took a deep breath. At least they were alive. For now. He looked deeper into the palace.
"...Let's find someone."
Aron nodded. "Anyone."
"Someone who can explain where the hell we are."
They left the unmoving doors behind and ventured farther into the ruined palace. The throne hall swallowed them almost immediately.
The inside was worse.
The interior was enormous. Parts of the ceiling had collapsed, leaving shafts of dim crimson light falling through the dust-filled air. Torn crimson banners hung from the walls, their faded fabric moving slightly despite the complete lack of wind.
The air was suffocating.
At the far end stood a massive throne, its surface cracked directly down the middle. Behind it, the stone wall was covered in faded carvings—figures kneeling before a shape that had been deliberately scratched away.
Zekai slowed.
Whatever had once stood at the center of those carvings, someone had wanted it forgotten. Broken stained-glass windows scattered fragments of crimson and violet light across the floor.
Aron looked around nervously. "This place gets worse the deeper we go."
Zekai couldn't disagree. Every step carried them farther from the courtyard—and farther from the only creatures they understood enough to fear.
Zekai had barely taken a few steps when the sensation returned. A faint heat pulsed inside his coat. He stopped. His hand immediately went to his pocket.
The black-and-red tarot box was glowing again.
Not brightly. Just enough for a thin crimson light to leak through the edges of the box.
At the same time, the black cube in his other pocket grew colder. Zekai froze.
One artifact was warming. The other was freezing.
They were reacting to something. But they weren't reacting in the same way.
Zekai stared at it. "...What the hell do you want?" The glow pulsed once. Zekai's eyebrow twitched.
"You keep nudging me again and again."
He sighed and pulled the box from his coat. "Fine." He opened it.
The tarot deck rested inside, perfectly still. He lifted it carefully. Only then did he notice a folded piece of paper tucked into a narrow compartment beneath the deck.
Zekai picked it up. The moment his fingers touched it, the faint vibration from the tarot deck returned. Hum.
"...You really want me to read this, huh?"
He unfolded the paper. At the same time, Aron had wandered a few steps away. His attention had been caught by something along the wall.
A large wooden cabinet stood half-hidden beneath a torn crimson banner. Its doors were covered in dust, but unlike the surrounding furniture, the cabinet itself remained almost perfectly intact.
Aron glanced back. Zekai was already reading. "...Mr. Zekai?"
No response. Zekai's eyes remained fixed on the parchment.
Aron hesitated. Then he slowly opened the cabinet.
Creak.
Inside were several old objects arranged across narrow wooden shelves. Broken ornaments. Empty containers. Pieces of ancient metal. And near the back, half-buried beneath a layer of dust, lay a single ring.
It looked ancient. Yet its surface was completely untouched by time.
A ring.
Aron slowly reached toward it.
✦ End of Chapter 4 — The Guardian's Threshold ✦