At the cursed Herayamed Bridge… Lankaten held a book he had taken from one of the monsters who begged for mercy in order to be killed.
Clinten closed his five fingers like a sword and bent down to cut off the monster's head, but Lankaten placed his hand on his shoulder. Clinten looked at him, surprised, and said:
"What? I'm going to give him the mercy he wants—but in hell."
Lankaten pointed with his index finger toward something. Clinten looked at the incoming thing.
"What is this disgusting thing?" Clinten stood up on his feet, disgusted by the sight he saw.
A shadow appeared—it was of a person with a severed head, yet the head was still connected to the chest. It had three arms, each holding a broken sword emitting a red spark. It was massive and terrifying. Its neck was gushing blood as if it were rain.
The shadow with the severed head stood before them and then turned its gaze toward the monster begging for mercy.
"Gideon knows demons like you well. Do you want to escape torment when you are part of it?" said the shadow with the severed head from nowhere. Its voice echoed deep within the ear.
It continued speaking with a terrifying growl:
"You hunters—it's best to leave him to suffer. Whether you kill him or not, he will suffer regardless… In Herayamed or in the Old Dream, there's no difference."
Both Clinten and Lankaten just listened. Neither dared to open his mouth—only Lankaten was muttering to himself:
"This shadow isn't an ordinary creature. It has some great knowledge about Gideon. There's no harm in listening to the nonsense it's spewing if there's some useful information."
The shadow gripped the monster's head tightly. The monster began to cry in pain. The shadow spoke terrifyingly, moving its hands in a strange manner:
"Look at them all… Look at your filthy kind of monsters. They accept their fate. What makes you different that you refuse the same fate?"
The monster wept and tried to grasp the shadow's hand. The shadow with the severed head struck the monster hard and continued speaking:
"You cry? And why wouldn't you? Are your tears for the infant incident? How disgusting you all are."
The shadow with the severed head looked toward the hunters. It twisted its body completely and raised one hand as it began to fade, saying:
"Send my regards to the Faceless One, that is… if you return alive."
The shadow disappeared. Then a group of ghosts appeared, holding their heads in their hands as they walked along the bridge.
"I don't know what's going on, but damn everything… We have to keep moving before another batch of his lunatics appears," said Clinten, with signs of surprise and confusion on his face.
"These kinds of things happen—visions or echoes of past or unexpected events," said Lankaten, walking very slowly, wanting to read what was in the book.
Lankaten continued speaking as he walked:
"Before I reach the gate, I'll read what's in this book. At least we might find some useful information."
Clinten spoke sarcastically to Lankaten:
"Reading… That's the one thing you're actually good at, you fool."
Lankaten looked at Clinten with utter indifference, then opened the book and was surprised to find most of the pages empty, except for the first and fourth.
'What is this? Why are most of the pages blank? Are the rest sealed with magic or what? It's as if someone is trying to protect them… No matter, I'll read what's in page two and four,' Lankaten muttered to himself quietly.
He turned to page two and read its contents in a chilling, unsettling internal voice, as if he wasn't the one speaking:
"Two birds, newly married, looked around a tree. The female bird spoke sweetly, singing her words: My dear, why don't we make this tree our home? For us and our future children. The male bird nodded his head… and began gathering sticks to build a home. But he was surprised during construction to see three destroyed wooden bridges above his head. The bird didn't know where—
As Lankaten read the story, Clinten stood up and placed his hand on Lankaten's shoulder. Lankaten, surprised, spoke angrily:
"What is it? Can't you see I'm reading?"
"I'm sorry, Professor, but I noticed something—we've been walking for a long time and haven't reached the gate. It's as if the road is stretching," Clinten said, half-sarcastically, but clearly concerned.
"You may be right," Lankaten noticed the same, and looked at the book, saying:
"The secret seems obvious—we won't reach the gate unless I finish reading these two pages."
Clinten was shocked:
"Man, the book looks like it has thousands of pages. How are there only two pages?"
"The rest are either blank or magically sealed, meant only for certain people," Lankaten replied.
"That's really weird. Whatever, just keep reading, Professor," Clinten said sarcastically.
"Stop being an idiot, fool," Lankaten retorted.
He continued reading the story:
"The bird didn't know where the wood came from. He looked at the female bird, who was also surprised. As he tried to understand, a paper fell onto the tree's branch. The bird looked at the paper and read: 'If you wish to live here, you must slaughter the host'… The bird didn't understand. But the female bird did…"
The female bird looked at the apple and said to the male bird: The host is one who lives without permission. Most likely, the worm living in the apple has no permission. The bird nodded, understanding clearly."
The second page ended… Lankaten turned to the other page, and his expression changed:
"What is this?"
"What now? I'm tired of walking the same road and looking at those ghosts," Clinten said, visibly annoyed.
'Where's the rest of the story? Why does this page have only one sentence, when it was full of words just seconds ago? Truly strange,' Lankaten muttered to himself.
Lankaten read what was written on the page:
"Do not speak, just be a good listener. Let him finish his breath, and the gate shall open."
He scratched his head while reading the strange sentence, saying:
"It seems this place manipulates time and the self itself."
As he spoke, the gate suddenly approached them quickly, standing before them with a loud creaking sound.
Clinten laughed, saying:
"Haha, man, this world is insane—but the important thing is, we've reached the gate—or it reached us. Doesn't matter. I'll destroy the gate now!"
As he tried to strike the gate with his hand, Lankaten grabbed it and said:
"Don't be hasty, brute. There's another riddle."
"Ugh, damn this place full of riddles."
Lankaten knocked on the gate… and within seconds, an old man spoke in a strange and eerie voice:
"Who knocks? Oh no… I already know who knocks… You're hunters… Do you hunt mice too? Oh, sorry—you only hunt yourselves, hahaha."
A soft coughing fit followed, then the old man continued in a low, strange voice:
"Seems I've spoken too much. What's the password?"
"The password is 'the chamber—'"
Lankaten put his hand near Clinten's mouth, his index finger moving side to side.
Clinten removed Lankaten's hand, understanding the gesture meant "Don't speak."
After a few minutes, the old man spoke strange words:
"Gideon… Why did they do this to you? Beautiful young man, you only came to help, not to oppose justice."
The old man wept as he uttered one word:
"Gideon, the great and beautiful."
He finished his breath, and the gate opened with a terrifying creak, accompanied by calm music. As the gate opened fully, both Clinten and Lankaten were shocked to discover that the old man had been dead for a long time.
"What kind of nonsense is this? All that talking, and in the end, it's just a corpse with its head severed at his feet," said Clentin, slightly frightened, though his fear was masked with anger.
"I don't know if it's intentional or not, but this old man reminds me of that shadow with the severed head," said Lenkaten as he placed two fingers on his chin thoughtfully.
Both of them entered the place, which was extremely dark. Suddenly, crimson lights lit up from the walls, revealing a massive hall. At the front, there was a gigantic abyss from which the sounds of tortured beasts echoed.
Lenkaten looked up and was surprised to see the three hanging bridges mentioned in the story. While he was still in a state of shock, a strange voice spoke eerie words with a dark, ominous melody:
"Di, Dk, Dim, Dn, Dmik"
The melody ended… and the scene transitions to the present madness at the Village of the Mad Women…
Eleonora and Emilia arrived at a house with a gothic style. Before Emilia could knock, Eleonora spoke with a tone of subtle fear and unease.
"This place defies even the basic laws of nature. Even the words on the sign are filled with an indescribable horror."
Emilia calmly responded:
"Everything in this universe has an answer, and we will find it."
Eleonora looked at her with heavy eyes and said:
"In this ruined universe? I highly doubt it."
Emilia knocked on the door several times, but no one opened it—not even a sound or a faint noise came from inside. She looked at Eleonora, and from that look, Eleonora understood the message. She broke the door and entered the gothic-styled house.
The interior was strange and terrifying. Heads of men were hanging on the walls, dismembered corpses were strewn along the stairs, and blood was everywhere. There was a suspended bridge on two sides, terribly unbalanced and seemingly broken at first glance. A massive chandelier hung from a ceiling made of human veins, glowing red.
Emilia spoke in a sarcastic tone:
"Whoever made this place has a truly bizarre taste in furniture."
Eleonora walked through the large hall, inspecting every corner until she reached the fountain in the center. There, she found some strange writings, including:
"Whore, killer, lunatic, and also ugly. She worships a great one who doesn't care about her fate." — The first inscription.
"Her source lies in distant and close manipulation, walking vein to vein. Even in death, her soul walks." — The second inscription.
"Try to endure for an hour or more, and never kill her. Who is she? I don't know, but understand it well for survival." — The third inscription.
Just as she was about to read the fourth inscription, the old woman's face appeared in the blood, causing her to step back in fear.
"What is it?" Emilia asked, looking at Eleonora with deep confusion.
"It seems we have unwelcome guests now—as we did before. You hunters are always so irritating," said an old woman in a terrifying voice laced with veiled threats.
Emilia looked toward the voice, which came from above the unstable bridge. To her shock, the old woman was alive.
"How is that witch still alive?" Emilia was caught between anger and confusion.
"It seems she's using illusions. A clear tactic to drive us mad," Eleonora said, trying to make sense of the situation.
The old woman's appearance changed—her eyes began bleeding rapidly. She held a scepter topped with a human head and wore a long black cloak. Her hair partially covered her face in a chaotic manner.
"And since you've trespassed into something that doesn't concern you, you shall now receive painful and terrifying torment, hahaha!" The old woman laughed in a disgusting, mocking tone.
She waved her scepter in the air. Emilia pulled out her pistol to shoot, but the old woman struck the ground with her scepter before she could fire, turning the entire hall into utter darkness.
The bodies of Eleonora and Emilia began to glow—helpful for others to see their bones. But even with that light, the darkness consumed everything.
A group of mad women appeared and charged at them. Emilia began slaughtering them with terrifying brutality. Meanwhile, Eleonora was thinking about the writings, trying to decode their meaning.
"What are you doing, Eleonora?" Emilia asked, puzzled by her strange behavior.
"I'm trying to find a way. Kill them—but don't kill the old woman. There's something mysterious, a riddle here," Eleonora answered Emilia's question.
"But why not kill the witch?" Emilia asked while continuing to fight the monsters.
"Just don't kill her if she appears," she snapped, trying to focus.
"Alright… alright… no need to shout," Emilia replied sarcastically.
"What does it mean to endure for an hour or more? And why not kill the witch? What if it's all nonsense she wrote herself? But the blood was fresh, as if the victim had just been killed… I don't know. We have to take the risk—but it's a dangerous gamble in this witch's house."
As Emilia was killing the monsters, one of them took the form of the witch. Eleonora shouted to Emilia not to kill it, but Emilia's dagger was faster than her voice.
Emilia severed the witch's head. The entire environment collapsed and became an empty, indescribable void. Suddenly, they reappeared in front of the sign which read:
"We kill men so that women may live, as the great 'Miraka' once said…"
"What just happened?" Emilia's expression embodied the full depth of shock.
Eleonora placed all five fingers over her face and said angrily:
"That bitch… she trapped us in an illusion… the moment we entered the village."
"So?" Emilia asked, confused.
Eleonora responded sharply while raising her right hand, which held the Phantium card:
"We are inside an illusion, and it will not break unless we kill the source."