After Liam left the house, he paused briefly where the horse carriage had stopped and boarded one heading toward Tezny District. A few minutes passed, and he had now arrived in Tezny, precisely at Street Number Twelve, Ahiston, according to Leo's directions.
As soon as he stepped down from the carriage, he stopped for a moment to recall the meeting location. Less than a minute later, the intended direction surfaced clearly in his mind.
The garden roundabout.
He began walking, observing the rows of tall buildings, recalling that their architectural designs resembled the late nineteenth century, with several structures crowned by dome roofs. Everything looked different from his home district, where the buildings were simpler and some had pointed roofs.
Tezny was located in the city center and functioned as urban infrastructure. It was only natural that architectural and technological development here was more advanced, even if not as advanced as other cities.
Even so, Moran was the city farthest from the kingdom's administrative center. Technology here still lagged far behind other cities that already had steam trains, steam engines, steam powered power plants, steam based safety elevators, typewriters, and more.
However, Moran had two major stations located in Forgenate District on the western side of the city, an area twice the size of Chapena, encompassing forests and valleys, vast hills and stretches of grassland.
This was different from Chapena in the east, Gours in the south, Niki in the north, Krensen in the southeast, and Hava District in the northeast, which were far from other regions, close to the sea, and rarely received attention from the mayor, Alistair.
Several minutes after walking along the roadside, he arrived at a small roundabout that separated four different roads. Within it lay a fairly spacious garden with neatly arranged plants and flowers, and at its center stood a large shady tree. Every time the wind blew, its brown leaves scattered in all directions, drifting onto the surrounding streets.
From the lower path, Liam quickened his pace and waved from a distance. The meeting was supposed to begin at two in the afternoon, but he was approximately twenty minutes late, and the three of them had been waiting for quite some time.
At the same time, they stepped forward toward Liam, wanting to greet him, or more precisely, ready to reprimand him for his lateness.
Leo immediately patted Liam's shoulder. He had previously thought his invitation would fail. On the other hand, he had not expected his friend's personality to change so quickly. He had held on to hope.
"Hey, Zavi," Leo whispered, then added, "Forn ended up inviting Zeta, and in the end she decided to come along."
Zeta Audervin was one of their former classmates. Coincidentally, she was deeply obsessed with occult matters and strange prophecies, including doomsday theories, similar to how Zavi used to be, and she often visited various churches and cathedrals to learn more.
He continued, "Sorry, I couldn't invite her. I don't know where her house is."
'Who is the person he means?' Liam wondered curiously.
Leo stepped closer and whispered the locations of the places they planned to visit.
Liam's brows furrowed after learning the actual fact through fragments of this body's memories upon hearing that.
His eyes suddenly shifted to his wrist.
'That castle? I just remembered, Zavi's death was connected to it after visiting there. But is this the cause? ...then why did he invite me there again? Damn it.' Liam thought in panic. It made his chest pound harder than it should have.
"So… what do you think?" Leo asked, tilting his head in confusion after noticing Liam's face suddenly turn pale.
"To be honest, I don't really want to go there either," Leo added with a shrug.
The location in question was a castle with a shimmering emerald green dome struck by light. The building held significant influence and had become one of the important landmarks in the City of Moran, Kingdom of Norn. As an ancient structure, the castle emitted a mystical aura, especially when night fell.
'Castle Eaurealis, huh?' His thoughts were in turmoil after considering it, but to conceal it, he smiled at Leo and nodded along with the three of them.
Leo turned around with a faint grin and gestured with his chin for them to follow immediately.
He walked ahead first, followed by Forn.
Meanwhile, Zeta turned toward Liam who had frozen in place, noticing his pale face and suspecting he was hiding something.
"What's wrong?" she asked as she approached, unable to restrain her curiosity.
"Nothing," he replied briefly yet firmly. He let Zeta come closer, then stepped forward to follow the other two.
Zeta's steps halted. Her mouth pressed shut tightly, and her brown eyes stared at Liam's back without blinking. She exhaled and forced herself to catch up so she would not be left behind.
Twenty minutes later, they arrived at the main road of Tezny District, No 12 Ahiston. Castle Eaurealis that afternoon was crowded with visitors. Yet amid the crowd, Liam's heart remained restless remembering that incident.
He stood rooted in place, staring at the open iron gate, reluctant to step inside. Unexpectedly, Leo touched his shoulder, pushing him to move.
"They've already gone in. Are you going to just stand here?" Leo asked in confusion, observing his friend's strange behavior.
In his mind, perhaps it was simply because they had not met for a long time, and Leo harbored no suspicion toward Liam.
Liam nodded. He slipped both hands into his coat pockets and stepped forward. From behind, a faint smile appeared on Leo's face, and he quickly followed.
The gray silver marble floor of Castle Eaurealis gleamed beautifully at the corner of their eyes. Each step echoed softly as if hiding something, and the friction of their shoes created an elegant silence within the vast hall.
On the other side, Zeta and Forn had already ventured deeper inside, enjoying the beauty and elegance of the innermost part of the castle, observing various polished and well maintained objects, and without realizing it, had left the two of them at the tall and magnificent entrance.
"Where did they go? Have they already gone inside?" Leo asked in confusion after scanning the surroundings, then his gaze shifted to Liam who was staring at something.
Leo followed his line of sight and saw a cracked castle pillar. The sound was clear with every passing second. Some people inside screamed for the officers, and others hurriedly ran to save themselves.
Several visitors reported it to the guards on duty. Two other guards began directing visitors to evacuate immediately, uncertain whether the ancient structure that had stood firmly all this time would collapse.
"Ck, this can't just be a coincidence."
'So trouble follows again after moving into this body, damn it.' Liam thought irritably.
Liam walked straight ahead, wanting to see the crack more closely. However, he struggled to push through the crowd pressing toward the exit.
Two castle guards at the entrance were overwhelmed managing the flow of people pushing against one another.
Meanwhile, Liam felt something was wrong with the castle, which began to crumble precisely when he and his friends arrived. He abandoned his intention to go further inside and instead signaled Leo to leave immediately.
"Don't worry about them. I'm sure they're fine," Liam said, his tone restrained despite the situation ahead.
Leo nodded, and they quickly went outside to find a safer place. Once outside, they saw several people covered in blood. It was unclear how they had been injured, but they assumed the blood was caused by falling debris from the castle roof.
They also saw two others with blood smeared across their arms as they exited through the grand gate, passing the panicked crowd afraid of being struck by further debris.
'It looks like the castle will collapse any moment now,' Liam thought doubtfully.
Through a small gate on the right side of the castle, Liam caught a glimpse of Zeta and Forn carrying a middle aged woman.
And from another gate on the left side of the castle, a group of men and women ran frantically to get out.
Then the cracking sound echoed again, from both inside and outside the castle, louder than before. People on the street stopped their activities after witnessing and hearing the murmurs from those within the castle gates.
Not long after, ten local police officers arrived after receiving reports about suspicious activity. They wore black uniforms partially patterned with gold, leather belts, and silver emblems on their chests. Star shaped badges were pinned to their shoulders indicating rank.
One who appeared to be the most senior stepped forward, three stars. His gaze was sharp, his voice heavy as he spoke.
"We received reports about suspicious activity around this castle," he said while clearing the people blocking the way, followed by nine two star officers behind him.
The atmosphere suddenly fell silent. After realizing the commotion had subsided, Liam turned around and observed the ten uniformed officers with silver badges approaching.
Reflexively, Liam tapped Leo's shoulder before stepping aside and moving about five steps to the left to give way.
One officer with straight black hair, a few strands covering his face, winked at Liam.
Seeing that, Liam immediately shook his head, the corner of his lips lifting as he considered the officer overly familiar.
All ten officers stood in front of the castle whose doors remained open. Some exchanged glances. Then the senior officer stepped forward, preparing to enter to search for anyone trapped and investigate the cause of the collapse.
"Be careful, sir," said seven junior officers.
The senior officer nodded before entering the castle, followed by two trusted subordinates, the man who had winked earlier, and a brown haired man with a stern face.
A few seconds after entering, he heard something from the staircase on the right.
He signaled two fingers toward the stairs. The two officers behind him nodded and each drew a gleaming silver pistol.
They ascended the staircase on the right side of the castle, moving silently along the second floor corridor. One of them, the black haired man, briefly saw a shadow dart quickly across two straight corridors connected ahead.
He suspected someone had just passed by, perhaps the mastermind behind the castle's destruction.
"There!" he shouted, raising the silver pistol level with his face and intending to charge without waiting for orders.
He reached an intersection of three corridors. Acting on instinct, he fired at the fleeing figure.
Bang! Bang!
The bullets shot swiftly through the air, but the person easily evaded them like a circus clown skillfully playing cards to deceive the audience.
"Huh?! Could that be the fugitive wanted by several Karvalan units?" he muttered, his gaze shifting to the left as he saw his two colleagues who had just arrived. "Senior. I think I saw that person again."
John was startled. His face tightened for a moment before deciding to speak in a restrained voice, "Order the others to block all exits."
The two nodded and ran downstairs to inform their colleague guarding the main entrance of Castle Eaurealis. Meanwhile, John chose to pursue that person without the slightest hesitation.
The two arrived at the entrance intending to relay the message. However, unexpectedly, a cold voice echoed from atop the castle dome.
The castle visitors were spontaneously startled, including Liam and his three friends. The voice came from one of the underlings of that mysterious figure, the wanted terrorist member, Mukaden, who was being hunted by the police.
"I will turn this district into a sea of darkness," the man said, pausing briefly, a faint smile painted across his face, "Now… be destroyed, you backwater bastards."
He jumped down. A few seconds after confusion spread among the castle visitors and the people who happened to see him.
A massive explosion erupted from within. Its source unknown.
Boom!!