After that relentless spiral of pain,
I stared forward for a few seconds,
my thoughts still scattered…
Until my senses slowly returned.
And that's when I realized ..
I was no longer inside the black castle.
"Where… am I?"
That was the first question I asked myself.
But the answers ..
They were starting to take shape… on their own.
I was sitting on a wooden chair… inside an ordinary room with a single bed, a desk, and a few simple pieces of furniture. Things that made it obvious the space belonged to a guy in his twenties.
Right in front of me ...
another person sat.
Also in his twenties, with a look so familiar I recognized him instantly.
We were face-to-face.
I started laughing—quietly at first.
A hollow laugh, wondering if I'd finally lost my mind.
After all…
This room was mine.
These were my things.
And the person sitting across from me…
Was me.
Or rather—
The version of me I used to look like, long ago…
before the reincarnation.
Before everything began.
My past self smiled as I laughed like a madman.
"Welcome back,"
he said, using my old voice.
And something about it felt deeply, fundamentally wrong.
"Welcome back where?"
I asked, still smiling uncontrollably.
"Home," he answered calmly.
The moment I heard that word, I sighed.
Exhausted.
Tired of all this illusion.
"Home? Did you people go and recreate my old house? Turned it into one of your little trials?"
I wouldn't even be surprised if the walls suddenly exploded and monsters came crawling in to devour my brain.
My past self chuckled at my reaction.
"So cynical… life really hasn't been kind to you, has it?"
His words were simple ..
but they hit harder than I expected,
especially coming from an old version of myself.
A version that once lived a peaceful life,
far removed from the endless spiral of blood and death I've endured since then.
If I were still the same person from back then…
I probably wouldn't be thinking this way at all.
That realization left a bitter taste in my mouth.
It made me angry ..without even knowing why.
"Who are you? What illusion have you trapped me in this time?"
To be honest, I'd already tried to strike him multiple times.
But neither Balerion nor the Dark Sister answered me ..
no matter how hard I called for them.
Powerless, I was left with no choice but to play along with this absurd play.
The smile on my former self's face slowly widened,
as if he could hear every thought racing through my head.
He looked around and said:
"This isn't an illusion.
It's what you call 'home,'
but not your real home."
Annoyed, I cut him off.
"What are you even talking about?"
"This place is the safe haven your mind created.
The place you feel most at ease.
And me?
I'm the version of yourself you long for more than anything."
Silence settled for a few seconds as I tried to process his words.
"So in other words… all of this is happening inside my head?"
He nodded.
"That's right."
Once I got my answer, I leaned back into the wooden chair.
"I really have lost my mind this time, huh?"
With a smile, my past self agreed.
"You lost it a long time ago."
Sitting here,
talking to myself inside my own head without restraint…
I couldn't help but wonder ..
When did everything start to slip from my hand?
When did I change this much?
"You haven't necessarily changed,"
my other self said,
"And yet—you have."
He pointed at himself.
"My existence is proof of that."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Like I said… I'm the ideal version of you.
The one you wish you could be again.
And this place is the sanctuary your mind has built around that wish.
This is where your 'family' lives."
"And what's wrong with that?" I asked.
"These choices of yours mean you're still trapped in the past…
You still see me as the better version of yourself ..
not the person you are now, Frey."
"And this place..." he said, casting a thoughtful glance around him before continuing,
"...this is still the place you call home ...
but not the Starlight estate, where your reincarnated father lives... and your sister resides now."
He looked genuinely sorrowful as he said those words.
"In other words… you're still stuck in the past, Frey.
You've changed ..
and at the same time… you haven't."
Between past and present…
A lot had changed.
That much was inevitable, given the life I had lived since my reincarnation.
And yet…
deep inside, parts of me remained exactly the same.
Deep down inside…
I was still yearning for the life I had lost—
a life I knew I could never return to.
Just thinking about it stirred feelings I didn't want to face.
So I shut his words down with cold detachment.
"Hey."
With the same cold gaze I'd always given my enemies, I looked straight at him.
"Isn't it time you told me why I'm here?"
The moment I asked, my other self looked surprised ..
then smiled again, faintly… with sorrow in his eyes.
"So… time's up, huh?"
"Time for what?"
"You're about to get answers to some of the questions that have haunted you."
As soon as he said that, I felt my curiosity stir—despite myself.
"But you're not ready to hear them yet…
which means you'll have to face what's waiting behind that door."
"Door?" I asked, confused ..
only to realize that a strange door had appeared behind him.
His expression grew more sorrowful as he glanced at it.
With a half-smile, I looked at him.
"So there's another test, huh?"
Nothing new.
I've never gained anything without a struggle.
But my other self only looked more pained.
"This time… it's different."
He stammered slightly, his eyes locked on mine.
"You won't be able to overcome what's behind that door."
Lowering his head, his shoulders trembled.
"That's why I brought you here… Please, Frey… don't open that door."
With every word he spoke,
the cracks in the closed door behind him began to glow brighter.
"There has to be another way… you don't have to do this…"
"Please… don't go."
Lowering his head toward me,
I stared at the man who was supposed to be me.
And though he tried to stop me,
he truly was worried for me.
I could feel it.
Because he was me.
But ..
He lifted his head when I placed my hand gently on his right shoulder,
offering him a faint, bittersweet smile.
"I'm sorry."
I didn't need to say more.
If he truly was me,
he already knew the answer.
With sorrow, he nodded.
"There's no other way… is there?"
There were no shortcuts.
No easy paths.
If I wanted to reach the end,
I had to face whatever waited for me—no matter what it was.
And so, with resolve,
I stepped forward.
And opened the door.
A brilliant light erupted, swallowing me whole.
My other self remained where he was,
watching with a pained smile.
"You won't win this time, Frey…"
The light faded slowly,
allowing me to see what was on the other side.
"This time, your opponent… can't be defeated."
The place I now stood in ..
was hauntingly familiar.
But it wasn't the room itself that made me tremble.
It was the people inside.
"You won't win… not against them."
Darkness swallowed the previous room—
my old self vanishing along with it.
And the space I had just entered lit up fully.
There, inside that room, stood four figures.
"Welcome back…"
They spoke in unison.
And I stood frozen, completely stunned.
"…W-What?"
In the blink of an eye,
my mind went blank.
Everything faded.
Everything I had been until now was erased—
memories slipping away like water through fingers.
Before the people I had chased for so long ...
like chasing a mirage…
My family.
They were all here.
With a mind too empty to even process it properly,
I smiled—
a smile I hadn't worn in a very, very long time.
"I'm home."
Home… at last.