Hortus Arcanus planēta

ACT 2

Resolve

When I narrowed my eyes in the direction Al was pointing, I saw another tower in the distance—one just like the tower we were standing in now—suddenly beginning to glow.

“That tower…?”

“That,” Al said quietly, “is the place where you must fulfill your mission.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think it’s written in that book too. The mission you all must carry out is to purify the negative energy building up inside this story. To do that, we need both you… and the other protagonist of this tale. That tower belongs to the protagonist. And just like I told you earlier, this place lies to the east of the royal palace. On the other hand, Lumia… your tower belongs to the west.”

“My mission…? I’m sorry, but I didn’t come here for something like that. I came here to learn about Refa… and to find a way back to where I originally belonged.”

“Ah… didn’t I mention it before? Refa is one of the people carrying this mission too.”

“What…?”

“And the method to return to your world, along with the clues connected to Refa… aren’t they written in that book as well? This is something only you can do. If this story begins to spiral out of control, all of us… everyone… will start to change. Even now, the power of that negative energy is already changing things. Lumia… haven’t you felt it too? That something about this story feels wrong?”

At that moment, countless memories flooded through my mind—

El and Ella’s split personalities,

the white birds that could speak,

Ella’s violent outbursts…

So many strange things resurfaced all at once.

I took a deep breath.

“Yeah… you’re right. There were definitely moments when I felt something was strange.”

I hesitated for a moment before finally answering him.

“Alright. I’ll do it.”

The moment Al heard those words, he let out a long breath, as if the tension holding him together had finally snapped loose.

“Lumia… thank you. I honestly thought you were going to refuse. But really… thank you. For all of us.”

As he said that, he lowered his head toward me.

“Stop it. It’s embarrassing having a prince bow to me like that.”

I straightened myself and looked back at him.

“Alright then, Al. How do I get to that tower?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” he replied, glancing toward the golden music stand.

“If you stand before that golden stand and say, ‘Twilight Sky,’ it’ll take you there.”

“Got it. I’ll try.”

And so, I stepped neatly in front of the golden stand.