His eyes opened.
The sky was dark, stormy, and covered in clouds. Yet there was no wind, no rain, not even the slightest movement. Everything was still.
Liam slowly sat up on the ground. "Where... am I?" He looked around. In the distance, farther away from where he stood, was the city of Mortaine.
"Wasn't I... asleep?" He pressed his hand firmly against the ground, then stood and wiped the dirt from his hands onto his coat.
He took a single step toward Mortaine.
The dark clouds turned white. The ground became covered in snow, and then the snowfall began.
Liam's mouth fell open in shock. He stepped back into the exact spot he had just left and voiced his thoughts. "W-what?"
The lush green plain had been buried beneath snow in an instant. Fresh snowflakes were still falling, yet the ground was already covered.
Liam turned his back to the city and looked toward the forest. The green trees were covered in white leaves. His eyes trembled.
"Where... am I?"
A crow suddenly flew past Liam's head. He snapped back to reality, covered his ear with one hand, and watched the crow.
The crow disappeared into the forest.
Liam remained where he was, feeling the chill of the fresh snow seep into him as his warm breath turned to vapor. The leaves fell from the trees one by one, and the snow-covered grass grew heavy beneath them.
Liam swallowed, a trembling smirk forming on his lips. "It's probably a bad idea, but if the crows really are connected to the portrait case... then that crow that went into the forest... definitely has something to do with me." He started walking toward the forest.
One step at a time.
Each step sank easily into the snow, but pulling his foot back out took effort.
He entered the forest, and the farther he went, the more crows he saw perched on the branches, watching him.
Liam stopped, crouched down, and touched the snow. It was cold and wet. The caws of several crows broke the silence of the blizzard. Liam immediately plunged both hands into the snow, packed it into a snowball, and hurled it at one of the branches.
The snowball hit. A little snow remained on the branch while the rest fell back to the ground. The crow had hopped backward, but it was still staring at Liam.
Liam collapsed onto the snow. "I'm cold... Is this a dream? Why is it so damn cold..." His eyelids grew heavy, and the world slowly faded into darkness.
Some time passed.
Something warm was nearby.
Liam hurriedly opened his eyes and looked at the ground. It was still covered in snow. A crow stood beside him, holding a lantern and staring directly at him.
Liam looked at the crow for a moment, then at the snow. "Heh... heh heh heh." His laughter gradually grew louder, more desperate, until he suddenly slammed his fist into the snow. "What kind of ridiculous nonsense is this...?"
The crow beside him jumped back slightly, then stepped forward again.
Liam stared at it. "You want me to come with you? Heh... I'm actually talking to a cro-"
Suddenly, the crow shook its head.
Liam stared at it in disbelief. He got to his feet and looked around. Every crow was staring directly at him.
He looked back at the crow beside him, but it had already moved away, deeper into the forest.
Liam immediately ran after it, and the crow began flying just above the ground.
The lantern's light turned the colorless shadows beneath the clouds golden. The farther they went, the thinner the snow became. Walking was no longer difficult, though running was still exhausting.
The vapor from Liam's ragged breathing drifted back into his face, warming him slightly. Little by little, breathing became easier.
Suddenly, the crows began flying all around Liam. Everything was filled with black feathers. The cold and the snow vanished. The blizzard and the white sky disappeared. Everything turned dark.
Then came the sound of raindrops falling onto the green, snowless leaves of the trees.
Liam raised an arm in front of his face to protect himself from the countless crows circling around him, then crouched and charged straight through them. He burst out the other side and stopped.
The crows fell silent.
He felt the soft, tiny drops of rain landing on his hair. Slowly, he lowered his hands from his face and opened his eyes. The golden light of the morning sun stabbed at them.
"Ah..."
He narrowed his eyes. A shadow stood some distance away, directly in front of him.
Liam opened his eyes fully, but suddenly a crow's feather swept past his face.
A cloak made of white and black feathers swayed gently as its owner stood above a blood-red lake.
Liam took another step forward.
"Who... are... you?!"
A faint laugh echoed across the lake, and the figure slowly turned toward Liam.
He was twirling a glass of wine in his hand. The beak of the crow mask covering his face was slightly open, and a cloak of crow feathers covered not only his back, but his entire front as well.
Liam clenched his teeth tighter and swallowed. He raised one foot, then slowly placed it back down. One by one, the crows landed on the surface of the blood-red lake, looking first at Liam and then at the man.
Liam spoke first.
"Who are you... or... what are you?"
The man took one step toward Liam, but Liam immediately took one step back. The man stopped, looked down at Liam's feet, then raised his head.
"Don't be afraid... I'm not a cannibal."
Liam remained silent, then carefully returned the foot he had stepped back with to its original position.
"You... who-"
The man answered.
"I don't have a name. Instead, you can call me Doctor Crow Father..."
"What do you mean... you don't have a name?"
"I see no reason to give my guest a convincing or complete answer."
"Then why did you tell me your title?"
"So you can call me something."
Liam fell silent again. "Why... does he answer without even hesitating?"
Suddenly, Crow Father asked, "Don't you want to ask what you're doing here?"
Liam shook his head. Crow Father stared at him for a moment, then lifted the wineglass to his beak and poured the red liquid into it. He released the glass, letting it sink into the red water of the lake.
Liam placed a hand over his pounding heart. "I ran so much back there that there's no way I could run now." He placed his other hand against one of the trees and looked toward Crow Father, standing in the middle of the lake.
Silence settled between them. The crows were silent as well. The only sound was the rain, drops falling onto the ground, the leaves, and the lake, creating tiny ripples across its surface, along with the steady tapping of rain against Crow Father's top hat.
Liam opened his mouth to ask a question in his own way, but Crow Father's beak suddenly parted.
"My crows saw a stranger. Someone who was looking for fame... or maybe just a little stupid."
Liam smirked. "Are you reciting poetry? Don't tell me you're a poet."
His sentence ended, and Crow Father fell silent.
Suddenly, every crow turned toward him and stared.
Liam's breathing grew shaky, but Crow Father suddenly spoke.
"Hmm... An experimental subject with the profession of a detective who knows how to joke... If he stays close to me, there's a 2.7 percent chance he'll slow down my ritual-forming process..."
Liam stared at Crow Father in confusion. The crows took flight, and Crow Father continued.
"You know, killing people from the upper classes, like nobles, is a bit troublesome. That's why stealing a few miserable people under the excuse of digging graves is much easier!!"
"W-what are you talking about?"
"? You don't know? Isn't this your case... the thirty-one missing people?"
Liam's eyes trembled. He reached toward his waist, where he always kept his revolver, but there was nothing there.
Crow Father suddenly began clapping, a quiet laugh accompanying him.
"Hahahaha... ha ha ha heh... Looks like you forgot that this is a dream. You didn't have a revolver at your waist when you went to sleep... You weren't even wearing that coat! You should be thanking me for giving you an extra coat in your dream."
Liam clenched his teeth, straightened his posture, lowered his head, and said, "What do you want...?"
Crow Father rested a hand beneath his beak.
"I'm not going to use you in my nightmare creature... Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. With the flesh of those thirty-one people I stole... Oh, no, borrowed, I built it. So I don't need you for that anymore."
Liam listened in silence. "...What should I do? What am I supposed to do?" A crow perched on a nearby branch, watching Liam.
Suddenly, Crow Father fell silent.
Liam nervously raised his head. A crow flew toward Crow Father and held out a handkerchief. He calmly took it, wiped the glassy black eyes of his crow mask, crumpled the cloth, and tossed it aside.
He stared at Liam.
"You... Ah... If you find anything special related to the Spiritual Tree or the Spiritual World, give it to me!!"
"You said... the Spiritual World?"
Crow Father turned his head to the side. "Hmm... I forgot. People from this era don't know what the Spiritual World is."
His beak moved, but no sound came out. Crow Father turned his head back toward Liam.
"Forget it. Anything you find related to the Spiritual Tree, give it to me!!"
Liam smirked. "I only have one master, and I have orders from him to find something... I'd rather die right here than let someone else order me around like I belong to them!"
Crow Father raised a hand.
Silence filled the air.
He lowered his hand and said, "Fine, fine... If you agree to cooperate with me, I'll take away the creature I created, the one that caused the portrait of that city's noble to become cursed!!"
Liam stepped forward and placed one foot onto the blood-red surface of the lake. Unlike the others, his foot did not sink into the water. He looked at Crow Father and said, "I can't believe you turned those thirty-one people into a creature capable of creating curses..."
"No one said you had to believe it. Besides, how much does the life of one human really matter?!"
"If you're so desperate for something from the Spiritual Tree, why don't you go looking for it yourself?!"
"Unfortunately, my creator told me not to leave this country and not to steal from anyone... I don't have any money to buy it from someone either, so I can't get it!!"
"Your creator? What are you, anyway? No... Who is he?"
Crow Father's voice suddenly became hoarse.
"He died three thousand years ago... There's no way someone like you could ever have known him!"
Liam suddenly fell silent.
Then he ran toward Crow Father and grabbed his cloak tightly.
"What do you mean, three thousand years?! Isn't the world only 1,879 years old?!"
The crows took flight. The clouds slowly parted, and sunlight revealed what lay beneath the surface of the red lake.
Crow Father opened his beak, intending to bite Liam's head, but Liam stepped back. As soon as Liam retreated, Crow Father's cloak transformed into wings, and the crows flew toward him.
Crow Father spoke.
"I'll come tonight to hear your answer..."
The number of crows grew larger and larger. Liam raised his arms in front of his face again, but suddenly, everything went silent.
He lowered his hands.
Crow Father was gone.
A single white feather drifted gently downward. Liam caught it in midair, then looked beneath the surface of the lake.
He stumbled backward in terror, only to fall into the lake.
Skeletons and pieces of flesh covered the bottom, tangled together like seaweed. Liam's heart pounded faster and faster. There still wasn't even a trace of a rotten smell when suddenly, Liam sank beneath the water.
Everything around him turned red.
"Detective? Detective? Deteeeectiiive?"
Liam shot upright in fear, gasping for breath. Sweat slowly trickled past the corner of his eye and down his face. He turned toward the window.
Nothing.
He turned toward the door.
It was open.
Julien was kneeling beside his bed.
Julien propped Liam's pillow upright, and Liam leaned against it.
Julien poured some water from a pitcher and placed it beside the bed, then said, "Did you have a nightmare?"
Liam gave Julien a sideways glance and murmured, "I hope... it was a nightmare."
"What did you say? Speak louder."
Liam looked at Julien, took a deep breath until his breathing steadied, and said, "I don't know... I really don't know whether it was a dream or a nightmare!!"
Julien stood up, interlocked his fingers, and stretched his arms overhead, giving a short stretch accompanied by a yawn. Liam brought a hand to his temple and closed his eyes.
"A dream... a nightmare... Maybe it was a dream that was progressing through a curse?"
Julien suddenly slapped Liam hard on the back.
"Whatever nightmare you had, forget it. It's eleven in the morning, Mr. Detective. You're not supposed to sleep in... Get up!"
Liam gave Julien a sideways glance and said, "I hope you fall into a lake full of blood and think the water is red!"
Julien, who had been quietly leaving Liam's room, turned around.
"What kind of stupidity is that?"
Liam simply watched him leave, then muttered under his breath,
"My stupidity..."