The two of them—Neir and Dani—headed toward Mr. Gharrick's house. Dani, who could only observe from his workplace, spoke softly, as if afraid to disturb his own train of thought.
"Do you know Mr. Gharrick's house?" he asked.
Neir kept walking, lowering her head slightly. Her voice sounded faint as she answered, "I know... He's a regular customer at my mother's store."
However, there was a pause in her voice before she continued, "But it's been over a month since I last saw him… after the incident."
As she walked, Neir began to tell her story, though her tone was hesitant. Dani listened carefully, letting Neir piece her words together.
"The library… was destroyed," she murmured. "That woman… she came, then… I don't know. Suddenly everything fell apart."
Dani could sense the doubt in Neir's voice, as if she herself didn't fully understand what had happened.
"I… was taken somewhere else. A cave, maybe? I don't know. It was dark… then… Mr. Gharrick came. He brought something. A green pendant?" Neir frowned, trying to remember.
Dani remained silent, letting her continue.
"Then… something fell… the pendant? I don't know… it broke? After that… everything became strange. Dark again. I don't remember."
Neir fell silent for a moment, as if trying to assemble the fragments of her memory. Dani didn't ask further, but from that halting story, he began to draw his own conclusions.
Dani swallowed. "Magic? A mysterious woman? A destroyed library?"
He closed his eyes briefly, trying to piece it all together in his chaotic mind. Neir spoke without hesitation, without a hint of doubt. This wasn't a fairy tale, not just a child's imagination.
"So… everything I've been seeing through her eyes is real?"
Dani sighed, his hand unconsciously gripping the metal shelf beside him. Cold. Real. Just like the strange feeling that had been bothering him all along.
"The library in ruins… Neir attacked, taken to a cave… And Mr. Gharrick, he came to save her…"
Dani bit his lip. "And that green pendant…"
His mind spun faster. That was the only object that kept appearing in every fragment of Neir's memory. Neir found the green pendant, then she kept it. But then, Mr. Gharrick took it to where that mysterious woman was, and something happened.
"Could it be… that pendant is the cause of all this?"
Dani stared at the empty floor in front of him, his breath feeling heavy. "If so, then this isn't just a nightmare. This is something bigger… something that shouldn't even be happening to me."
His eyes returned to his surroundings in the stockroom. Shelves of goods, the smell of cardboard and dust, the faint sounds of other workers outside. An ordinary world. A real world. But at the same time, on the other side of his consciousness, he could see something entirely different—Neir walking, heading to Mr. Gharrick's house.
He felt increasingly distant from the reality he knew.
Finally, with a slightly trembling voice, Dani asked, "Neir… Do you know about Earth?"
Neir was silent for a moment, then frowned in confusion. "Earth? What's that?"
Dani fell silent. His stomach churned. "She doesn't know... She's never even heard the name before..."
His hand gripped the metal shelf again, tighter than before. All the logical explanations he had believed in were slowly crumbling.
With a slightly shaky voice, he asked again, "Then… this place? What do you call it?"
Neir kept walking, her gaze still straight ahead. "Beysolun Street," she answered without hesitation.
Dani held his breath. Something inside him seemed to lurch.
"So… that place isn't Earth… It's another world?"
His eyes widened, his chest felt tight. The destroyed library, the mysterious woman, the green pendant—none of it was part of the world he knew. It wasn't a fairy tale, not imagination, but reality somewhere else.
"This is insane… But if all this is real…"
Dani swallowed.
"…why is this happening to me?"
While his mind was still in chaos, Neir had arrived in front of Mr. Gharrick's house. She initially wanted to go to the library, but remembering its destroyed state, this house was a more logical destination.
The door was slightly ajar. Neir slowed her steps and approached. However, before she could knock, sounds from inside were clearly heard—the sound of a commotion.
Neir tensed, her heart beating faster. What was happening inside Mr. Gharrick's house?
---
Neir stepped into Mr. Gharrick's house carefully. The living room was empty, but the sound of conversation was clear from inside. A heavy male voice—Mr. Gharrick—sounded firm, yet with a tone of anger. Meanwhile, another voice, a woman's, sounded more panicked, broken between ragged breaths.
Neir swallowed. Something in her heart told her this wasn't a good situation.
"Neir, go further in. See what's happening," Dani's voice sounded in her ear.
Neir bit her lip. Honestly, she was hesitant. But in the end, she still followed Dani's words. Her steps were slow, almost soundless, as she slipped into the kitchen.
Once she crossed the threshold, her eyes immediately widened.
The kitchen was… destroyed.
The wooden floor was covered in broken ceramic shards; several plates and glasses that should have been neatly arranged on shelves were now scattered chaotically. Dining chairs were overturned, one of them even broken on one leg. There were dark red stains on the floor—likely blood. A faint metallic scent lingered in the air.
"Damn..." Dani, who was seeing through Neir's left eye, immediately stopped his work in the stockroom. His body tensed. "This isn't good, Neir. Be careful."
Neir glanced to the right, toward the dining table—and there Mr. Gharrick was.
The man was sitting leaning against the table, breathing heavily. His clothes were disheveled, torn in several places, and blood stained his bandaged arm. One hand still firmly gripped someone—a woman now lying face down on the wooden floor.
The woman struggled, her body squirming slightly, but Mr. Gharrick quickly pressed both her hands behind her back. The woman let out a soft scream, her face contorted in pain.
"Mercy... I just wanted to find Mr. Gharrick... I swear, I meant no harm..." her voice was hoarse, almost crying.
Mr. Gharrick snorted, his face still hard. "You think I don't know how long you've been following me? Hah... From shadow to shadow, like a crow always hovering over carrion. Don't think I didn't notice... a rat trying to sneak into my nest."
His metaphors remained, though with a colder, sharper tone than usual.
The woman struggled more, but Mr. Gharrick didn't loosen his grip. The wounds on her hand and temple indicated she had fought earlier—and clearly lost.
Neir stood frozen in place, her heart pounding.
Mr. Gharrick, who had initially been focused on the captive beneath him, finally noticed Neir's presence. His eyes narrowed slightly.
"Neir?" His voice was lower, but the tension within it was still audible.
The man's hand still hadn't released its hold on the woman on the floor.
----------