Dan and Elena kept walking through the woods. Their footsteps on the fallen leaves were the only sound.
Dan thought to himself:
"If those rumors were created by Dan Noctein himself, why would he make up a rumor like that? What would he gain from it?"
Then he remembered the diary.
It contained a wealth of information about the palace and the world. It's clear that it was designed to help him acclimate here. But why?
Dan's head spun as he exhaled slowly and looked at Elena.
"Elena, I have a question."
She looked at him, waiting to see what he would say.
Dan paused for a moment, considered his words, and then stated:
"What was your first impression of me when you saw me?"
Elena was slightly surprised by the question, but she responded.
"To be honest, I felt a little scared."
Dan raised his eyebrows and said incredulously:
"Fear?"
Elena replied:
"Yeah, you didn't look scary, but..."
She paused for a moment, then continued:
"You was weird."
Dan inquired with a concerned tone:
"What do you mean weird?"
Elena continued:
"Your gaze was cold, but you didn't act like you had hatred... You were distant from others, but you weren't avoiding them completely. You were an unfathomable person, and even stranger..."
Elena suddenly stopped.
"Wait," she said, pointing to the ground.
Dan looked in the direction she pointed and froze for a moment. There was a red color on the leaves.
He bent down to examine it with his finger, then muttered:
"Blood... not dried yet."
Elena looked up at the trees.
"There are no wounded here, are there?"
Dan shook his head, then looked ahead to where another splatter of blood was scattered, forming a broken path between the trunks.
"Shall we continue?" He asked, his voice low, as if he didn't want to be heard.
Elena answered confidently:
"We will continue, but cautiously."
With each step, the bloodstains grew larger, sometimes wrapping around a tree trunk, sometimes disappearing and then returning again. It was clear that whoever had left them was being dragged.
Elena suddenly raised her hand to stop Dan.
She whispered:
"There's something up ahead... behind that giant tree."
They crept silently until they were far enough away to see beyond the huge trunk.
A creature in a tattered black robe, like a cloak of shadows, stood before them. It had a humanoid body, and it was very tall but slender. Its face was covered, and nothing was visible. In its right hand, it held a dark black dagger.
In his left hand was a body.
Torn, headless.
Dan recognized that robe immediately.
"This professor," he muttered in surprise, then took a step back without realizing it.
A few meters away, there was a second body lying on the ground with its eyes open to the sky.
"Professor Serena?"
Dan froze at the sight of the bodies, not because of them. It was what he didn't see that made him freeze.
There is no sign of a fight. No burns. There will be no destruction. There were no screams etched on their faces.
It's just death. Instant. Silent.
He muttered softly, as if in disbelief:
"These are two S-rank professors, and they didn't even get a chance to defend themselves."
The creature instantly lifted its head and started turning toward the voice.
When the creature looked at them, both Dan and Elena froze.
But what happened next was even more shocking...
The creature disappeared without a trace.
Dan turned toward Elena nervously, but what he saw made him completely frozen in terror.
The monster was behind her.
It stood there, silent, holding a slanted dagger the color of rusty blood.
Elena looked at Dan, preparing to speak, but she didn't realize what was behind her.
Dan tried to scream, to warn her, to move his lips, but his body didn't respond.
The monster grabbed her head with its left hand and swung the dagger.
It decapitated her in one fell swoop.
Her body fell to the ground, and the monster held her head up, as if to show him what it had done.
Then he looked at Dan.
Damn... Damn... What is this monster?! I have to run!
But Dan's legs didn't move. Fear had paralyzed them.
He saw something strange the next moment.
He could see the world swaying.
The earth was spinning, the trees were upside down, the vision was shaking...
Then he realized the horrible truth.
His head was rolling.
It wasn't his body that was falling, it was his head... he had been decapitated without realizing it.
The last thing Dan experienced wasn't pain... it was shock.
He was decapitated... before he even realized what had happened.
And then... it was dark.
He was dead
⸻
Dan opened his eyes on his bed, sweating, he looked around, he was in his room... trying to process what had just happened
I was... I was in the woods with Elena, now I'm... I'm in my room.
Did i die?