The truth… the truth behind everything.
The answer to countless questions left unresolved, and to a mystery that had lingered for far too long.
Frey felt his heart pound violently in his chest, his tension reaching its peak as he stood on the edge of revelation.
What had Naless discovered in that distant past?
What kind of madness had he witnessed—what had he heard—that forced even a creature devoid of emotion like him to reject it… to erase the mory entirely and cast it away?
At the height of his journey, Naless had followed the traces left behind ... deliberately placed by an unknown entity, a presence he could not identify, nor find any clue to its origin.
Yet through those ancient remnants, he reached a place no one had ever set foot in before… and confronted the hidden truth.
Frey's face hardened, and the sa tension reflected upon the current Naless.
Even the emotionless Naless of the past did not appear calm as usual—he seed disturbed, unable to maintain the composure that once defined him.
Everything stood on the brink now.
Whatever answers they were about to uncover would shape everything that followed.
For from what they would witness and understand… the final version of Frey would be born ... the one who would continue the war of existence.
The souls that perished on Earth… still lingered, their fate unresolved.
And countless other lives would be reshaped by the transformation Frey was about to undergo.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that what Frey Starlight faced now… would change everything.
It would mark the dawn of a new era—one unlike anything before.
Standing side by side with the current Naless, both followed his past self into the stream of light…
"It was both exhilarating… and terrifying," Naless said, his expression firm as he walked beside Frey.
"The thrill of uncovering truth… of answering questions left in silence. And the fear of a reality so harsh… it could break even a man without emotions."
The Naless of the past could not bear it.
"But we will," Frey replied, eting his gaze with unwavering resolve.
"After a life filled with nothing but misery and suffering… after years of struggle drowned in sorrow… I don't think any truth, no matter how bitter, can break now."
Naless smiled faintly at those words.
"As if all that suffering… was nothing more than preparation for this mont."
"Yeah… I think it was," Frey answered, returning the smile before taking a deep breath.
And at last… the great light parted, revealing what it had concealed.
Frey witnessed with his own eyes the mont Naless shattered the veil ...
The mont he stepped into the place where all secrets had been hidden.
Before them unfolded an entirely new realm… a place that sent a cold shiver down their spines, despite their spectral forms.
Naless entered what appeared to be… a library.
A familiar one—Frey recognized it instantly.
It was identical to the one he had seen within the mask, eerily similar to those depicted in the paintings they had just witnessed.
Its shelves stretched endlessly ... ascending and descending through infinite levels.
It was vast, filled with finely crafted wooden tables and chairs, its walls adorned with gold and black stone.
Stairs and passages intertwined across its structure, connecting distant sections across its imasurable expanse.
A library beyond comprehension… one that held countless secrets.
The mont Naless entered it for the first ti… his body trembled violently.
Then, he dropped to one knee.
Frey and the current Naless stared in shock as they witnessed ...
For the first ti ... warmth surge through his chest.
A warmth he had never known.
Naless of the past did not understand what was happening.
He could not comprehend the strange heat flowing through him… nor the unfamiliar emotions that had taken hold of him out of nowhere.
"He's… feeling…" Frey muttered in disbelief, having believed that Naless only gained emotions through him.
This mory proved how wrong he had been.
Overwheld by those sensations, Naless remained frozen—unable to move, unable even to perceive what lay before him.
He spent those monts trying to understand what had just awakened within him.
Frey and the current Naless, however, were different.
They already possessed emotions… and thus felt none of what he experienced back then.
Their attention shifted elsewhere within the library… searching for answers.
And what they saw… froze them in place.
"…Tell what I'm seeing is an illusion," Frey whispered, his eyes trembling.
"No," Naless replied, his voice just as heavy. "It's real. Undeniably real."
Before them stood a simple table ... not large, not small.
In front of it… a single chair.
And upon that table rested a thick, strange black book… its cover adorned with elegant golden script.
Its title read clearly:
"Land of Survival."
A familiar na—to Frey… and to Naless, who shared his mories.
But the true shock did not co from the book… nor its title.
It ca from the one seated before it.
A young man sat upon the chair, his hand resting atop the book's cover.
Still. Silent. Unmoving.
He looked… lifeless.
As though his soul had already left his body.
His hair was long, dark, and strikingly beautiful.
His features… were unmistakable.
They were the sa features… shared by Frey… and Naless.
"…He looks like us."
Unnervingly so.
Yet there was one difference ...
The darkness that consud his eyes…
as though they had been replaced by gleaming black pearls of shadow.
The young man looked almost identical to Frey—as though he were another version of him, one more complete… more refined… and far heavier in presence.
He wore unfamiliar black garnts, subtly different from anything Frey had ever seen before.
Beside him stood an older man, well into his forties… with thick white hair, a light beard, and features that radiated an inexplicable warmth and familiarity.
The man stood behind the youth, resting his hand gently upon his shoulder.
Yet his eyes, too, were filled with darkness—lifeless, hollow… as though his soul had already departed.
Both of them were in the sa state.
One sat, his hand resting upon the book… while the other stood behind him, hand upon his shoulder ... as if bound together by sothing unseen.
Frey stared at the older man for a long ti, his eyes trembling, his mouth slightly open, unable to form a single word.
"My mind wants to say this is impossible… but my eyes insist that what I'm seeing is real."
He stepped forward slowly, each movent heavy… while Naless remained behind him.
Frey continued walking, step by step… until he stood directly before them.
"There's no doubt…" he said, his voice unsteady.
"No matter how I look at him… no matter how long I stare… I beco more certain…"
"…that this is… my father."
In that mont, the truth revealed itself.
The man was a perfect reflection of Abraham Starlight .. yet even more complete… more imposing.
And the one seated upon the chair…
"…that's ."
Frey staggered back slightly, a sharp headache crashing into him, followed by a wave of dizziness.
"What the hell is going on here…?"
Looking around, he noticed the books surrounding him—countless of them.
Yet for so reason… they felt suffocating.
They closed in on him from all sides, as if their words had beco screams echoing through his mind and soul.
They felt real… alive… their voices reverberating deep within him.
Especially that black book ... it exerted the strongest presence of all.
Frey felt lost… as though he were about to be dragged away by those voices.
But Naless intervened imdiately, grabbing him firmly.
"Pull yourself together! Don't let them take you!"
Snapping him back to reality, Naless covered Frey's ears with both hands, his own gaze scanning the surroundings in confusion.
Before them sat Frey and Abraham—motionless before the book that seed to have stolen their souls.
And all around them… the books scread with living words, as if real people were calling out from within them.
The entire scene felt surreal… like a powerful illusion imposed upon them.
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