---
The orb flickered.
Not once.
Not twice.
But three violent, irregular pulses—then Elira’s voice shattered the quiet.
"Please... soone—anyone, help . The village—"
Static.
The orb dimd.
I stared at it like it had just whispered my worst nightmare into reality.
Sora wasn’t here. She’d gone ho to cool off. I didn’t bla her—we’d all been at a breaking point lately. But I wasn’t going to drag her back into this until I knew exactly what we were walking into.
So that left ... Aya, Run, Akane, and i.
No warriors.
No plan.
Just four idiots standing in a living room... and one dying signal from another world.
"I—I’ll start in the west wing," Aya said, already rushing toward the hallway lined with shelves. "If there’s a book on interrealm travel, it’ll be over there."
Akane didn’t speak. She just moved—sharp, fast, pulling tos from the top shelf like she’d done this before.
i hovered behind , uncertain. "Ren... you don’t have to go."
I gave her a look. "We all know I’m going."
We tore that library apart.
Hours passed. Maybe more. Dust choked the air. Books ford walls around us—so enchanted, so screaming when opened, others just full of useless theory. No clues. No spells. No entry point.
Until Akane slamd a book down on the table.
"I found it."
The title was faded in gold: Veins Between Worlds.
We circled it like it might explode. She opened it carefully, flipping to a page marked with a folded petal. A diagram sprawled across it—dense, ancient, but unmistakably... a door. A way in.
"But there’s a catch," Akane muttered, fingers tracing the runes. "You can’t enter the Elf Realm unless soone from within invites you."
"So unless Elira suddenly picks up the orb again," I muttered, "we’re stuck."
Aya’s eyes lit up. "The orb."
"What about it?"
"She gave it to us, didn’t she? Maybe we can... twist the intent. Use her magic already inside it."
We didn’t wait.
Aya held the orb. Akane channeled her fla magic in pulses. I added a touch of whatever this cursed system had laced into my body, and i... she whispered sothing under her breath that felt older than ti.
Then it happened.
The orb floated. Glowed. Warped.
And with a sound like tearing silk, a ripple opened in the center of the room.
A doorway.
Dark. Flickering. Unstable.
"Are we seriously doing this?" Rin whispered.
"I don’t know where it leads," I said.
"But I know what happens if we don’t."
We ard ourselves. Light packs. Protection charms. Nothing fancy.
Just instinct.
Aya gripped my sleeve. "If we don’t co back..."
"We’ll co back," I said.
We stepped in.
One by one.
Into the unknown.
Into Elira’s world.
---
I don’t know what I expected when a glowing portal cracked open in the center of my living room.
But it sure as hell wasn’t this.
One second, we stepped through the makeshift gate—the next, we were free-falling through a sky too blue to be real. Clouds spun past us like ribbons, and the wind slapped so hard I forgot how to scream.
"We’re going to die!" I shouted, flailing like a man trying to punch gravity.
Aya shrieked beside . Akane clutched i’s arm. The books and supplies we packed were scattered midair like confetti. I was too stunned to do anything except spiral helplessly downward and ntally list out all the things I never got to do:
I never learned to surf.
Never finished that one manga I kept putting off.
Never kissed anyone in the rain.
Never not had a cursed system.
And sohow, even with a harem, I never felt like I’d had a "real" girlfriend. Not once. Not soone I chose... just soone who chose because of a bug in the universe.
So yeah. This felt like a cruel way to go out.
But just as I was about to pass out from sheer terror, the fall... stopped.
We floated.
My body jerked midair and slowed like we were feathers instead of people. A warm, glowing force surrounded us like invisible hands catching us gently.
"Don’t scream," Akane’s voice echoed, a little breathless. "I’m using floatation magic. It’s unstable but... it’ll hold for now."
We all looked at her in awe. Even Aya blinked with mild respect.
"You learned that?" I said.
"A month ago," she said, her cheeks pink. "I wasn’t sure I’d ever use it."
"Remind to bake you a cake when we survive this."
Her lips twitched. "You owe two. I just saved your life and your cursed harem."
As we drifted downward like awkward sky fairies, the world of the elf realm unfolded below us.
It was breathtaking.
Erald-green forests stretched as far as the eye could see, woven with streams that glowed golden like liquid moonlight. Gigantic trees ford spiral bridges that connected floating islands. Birds with rainbow plumage zipped across the skies, leaving trails of glittery mist behind them.
We passed a herd of... llama-deer? No. They looked like deer but with soft, bouncy wool and horns that humd like wind chis.
Everything sparkled. Everything shimred. It was like falling through a fairy tale.
Even Aya, usually unimpressed by everything, whispered, "It’s... beautiful."
We had a mont of awe. Just one.
Then Akane’s voice cracked.
"Guys... I can’t hold it anymore."
"What?!"
"I used too much mana lifting all four of us! The spell’s unraveling!"
Panic hit instantly.
i grabbed my arm. Aya clutched her sword tighter like she could stab the air. Akane’s nose was bleeding, her body shaking as the magic faltered.
And then—snap.
The floating aura shattered.
We dropped again.
This ti there was no slow-motion grace.
Just chaos.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH—!"
We plumted toward the forest canopy like screaming teors. The only thing louder than the wind was my internal voice, shouting this is it.
And still, through the blur of green and panic, one thought ran through my head:
Elira, wherever you are, this better be worth it.
---
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