It was a bright, sunny afternoon. A boy was sitting on a bench by the park, watching his younger sister run around with her friends and the other children. His raven hair was gelled, and his blue eyes were dull, utterly lacking enthusiasm.
With a sigh, he turned to the side and leaned against the bench. That was when the wind blew, and something flew straight toward him, plastering itself across his face. Cursing under his breath, he pulled the sheet of paper off his face and glanced at its contents.
It turned out to be an artwork of sorts featuring the major characters of a story. Of course, he knew the story well; after all, it was one he had begun reading recently.
At the very front of the cover was a boy with golden hair and lively blue eyes. He seemed like the enthusiastic, easygoing type. To his right was another boy. This one had radiant scarlet hair and piercing crimson eyes. The boy had a mildly feminine appearance, his face slightly round and pretty.
To his left was a girl with a cold appearance. Her hair was just as black as his, her eyes were hazel, and her face betrayed no emotion.
They were the protagonist, deuteragonist, and tritagonist of the story: Nuel, Star, and Tsukina. There were also other characters shown, like their silver-haired teacher and one of the major villains, Elysia.
Below them was the story's title...
The Last Promise.
Moon folded the sheet of paper carefully and kept it by his side before turning to the clear blue sky with a smile on his face. It was then that his ten-year-old sister kicked a ball, sending it flying straight into his face. It knocked him out of his daze and almost sent him tumbling off the bench.
Such ferocious strength.
And what a sweet memory it was...
It was the only one that came to Moon's mind in that moment as he stared at the golden door before him. Only, he wasn't Moon anymore.
He was now Star, the deuteragonist of The Last Promise. A teenage boy who knew no biological parents and had just had his home destroyed by the Church of Light.
How lucky he was that no one had asked him any personal questions. It was all too strange, but it was a truth he was quickly bringing himself to accept regardless.
Shaking off his reverie, he reached toward the gate and turned to Viviric.
"What lies beyond this gate?"
Viviric simply gestured for him to open it.
"It is just as I said earlier. The safest place in all of this godforsaken hell. I will send you a signal once a new gate manifests."
Moon—now Star—pushed the gate open as soon as the man finished speaking, not wanting to linger any longer. Viviric, meanwhile, dissolved into a haze of dark fog and disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving behind hurricane-force winds that stunned Moon for a moment.
'I don't even know...'
His eyes widened, and he turned around.
"Hey! What will the signal be?!"
But there was no answer, only the whistle of the wind.
With a sigh, he walked through the gate into Paradise and watched as it closed behind him. A torrent of energy flowed into him, making his body feel lighter and stronger.
'So much for punishment...'
Taking a deep breath, he gazed upward.
'At least nothing is going to bother me here.'
A vast sky sprawled above him, and a silver moon hung at its center. It was calm and peaceful. However, there were no stars in the sky, nor were there any signs of an incoming storm.
The sky had been made to look like that simply because someone had plucked every single star from the magical heaven above him. Knowing who it was, he couldn't help but shake his head in awe.
It was someone so far away, yet so close to him after all.
'That woman just doesn't know how to give up.'
A bright smile lit up his face.
'Serves them right.'
Lowering his head, he glanced around at his supposed paradise. What he saw was an ivory castle reaching toward the sky. He was standing on a pathway that led to its grand staircase, with large trees growing along either side, their leaves rustling gently in the wind.
Disconnected from the tormenting darkness surrounding it, this haven looked like an island, with trees encircling the ivory castle and a placid lake resting beside it.
'Let's see then...'
As he took a step forward, Moon tried to recall his knowledge of this particular scene from The Last Promise. Though things had not unfolded in exactly the same way, Star had still ended up in Paradise in the original story—and not by coincidence.
Viviric had a reason for bringing him here, and he could already feel it.
There was something hidden in the depths of the castle calling out to him, making his heart beat louder with every step he took.
'It should be somewhere underground.'
Thinking that, he gritted his teeth, remembering what Star had gone through to actually reach the place—and the thing—in question. Viviric wasn't here to help him either. He was on his own because the man couldn't enter Paradise; it would reject him.
After walking for what felt like forever, Moon turned back to look at the golden gate behind him, barely a dozen steps away. The castle stood about two hundred meters from the gate, so it shouldn't have taken him long to reach it.
But it only seemed so.
Even though the castle looked only two hundred meters away, he would have to walk nearly ten times that distance to actually reach it. So he ran as fast as he could. With Paradise invigorating him, he did not tire and never slowed until he reached the castle.
Ascending the stairs, he spent a few seconds admiring the scenery around him. Star wondered what world awaited him in this new reality and dreaded it at the same time. He couldn't deny the fear he felt with every moment he spent in this long-forgotten place.
But it wasn't forgotten anymore.
It was going to be remembered, just as someone had willed it to be—by him and everyone else unfortunate enough to enter the Void Gates. It would be etched into the minds of all those who witnessed the fate of Viviric and all the Cursed Ones.
Now that he was close enough, he was able to see the castle more clearly. There wasn't anything particularly special about it. It was simply a structure made to look grand through sheer size. There were no adornments nor reliefs hinting at any specific origin.
It seemed full of life, yet utterly devoid of it, with no decorations except the ivy gently wrapping around its pillars. But he knew it was all a ruse; there was much more to this simple ivory castle than met the eye.
Two large doors stood before him, leading inside. Walking toward them, he tentatively reached out. Stopping just a few inches away, he looked up at the ceiling above him.
He could see nothing because of how dark it was.
The moon's radiance could not reach it.
He turned around and left, taking a seat on the first stair. Star looked up at the silver moon above him, a smile finding its way onto his face once more.
'I almost forgot this place only opens in the morning...'
He looked down at his feet.
'Not that I'll regret being the only star here...'
He pursed his lips mid-thought and glanced to the side. The trees lining the pathway spread outward from the castle's base, surrounding the structure entirely, their vitality endlessly fueled by the very sorcery used to create Paradise.
However, he wasn't interested in any of that at the moment. There was nothing he could do about it anyway. Instead, a certain memory suddenly came to mind, and something far beyond his sight drew his attention.
He stood up, walked down the stairs, and stopped beside one of the trees, looking up at a single golden fruit growing high on one of its branches. Sadly, he couldn't reach it.
He continued forward, slowly circling the castle until he heard something in the distance.
Someone was panting.
A woman, most likely.
'I guess I was right.'
He followed the sound of the ragged breaths, and just before they died down, he found himself standing beneath a tree whose single golden fruit was missing. A few meters away stood another tree, this one also missing the fruit that had hung from one of its branches.
However, there was something else beneath those branches.
A girl with long, pointed ears and eyes like emeralds leaned against the trunk with a golden fruit pressed to her lips.
She had been about to take another bite when he appeared, so drops of juice trailed down her elbow, and her eyes widened in shock.
'Elysia... it seems I found you.'