Zekai and Aron slowly walked toward the broken gate. The moment they stepped closer, an ancient courtyard opened before them.
Broken marble statues lay scattered across the ground. Some had lost their heads, while others were missing entire arms. Old fountains stood nearby, filled with dark, stagnant water that no longer reflected the sky.
Vines wrapped tightly around the statues like living creatures strangling corpses.
Fragments of shattered crowns were scattered across the courtyard floor. The entire place resembled a royal garden that had been destroyed long ago.
But something about it felt wrong.
Not visually. The wrongness came afterward—like their minds were slowly catching up to something they had missed.
Zekai's eyes moved across the statues again. Then he stopped. One of them had changed position.
He was certain it had originally faced the courtyard. Now it was facing them.
Zekai's expression tightened slightly.
'I didn't see it move.'
That was exactly what made it disturbing.
"Mr. Zekai…" Aron spoke quietly beside him. "What kind of kingdom do you think this was?"
His gaze slowly wandered across the ruins.
"And how did something like this get destroyed?"
"I'm wondering the same thing."
Because kingdoms from ancient times usually fell for only two reasons. Either they were destroyed by outside invasions… or they collapsed because of their own greed and corruption.
But this place felt different.
This didn't feel like a war. Or a natural disaster.
It felt like something had destroyed this entire world with intention.
The longer Zekai stared at the ruins, the heavier his chest felt.
At that moment, warmth spread from both of his coat pockets.
His eyes narrowed slightly. Slowly, he reached inside and pulled the objects out.
In one hand was the black-and-red tarot box Aron had returned earlier.
In the other was the black stone card.
Both were glowing faintly. The strange light didn't illuminate the surroundings.
It felt like the glow was being seen… without truly existing.
Zekai stared at them in silence, his fingers tightening unconsciously around the stone card.
"…Aron."
Aron turned.
"Do these look like they're glowing to you?"
Aron stepped closer and leaned slightly toward the objects, squinting carefully.
"No," he answered after a moment. "They look normal."
For a second, Zekai almost wanted to believe him.
But if Aron truly couldn't see it—then whatever this was… it was directed only at him.
Still unconvinced, Zekai handed the stone card to Aron.
"Hold this for a while," he said calmly. "I'll take it back later."
If something happened to him, it was better if at least one of them wasn't directly connected to the card.
Aron hesitated slightly before taking it.
"Okay…"
He turned the black stone over in his hands curiously, examining it like an ordinary carved object.
Even while holding it, he showed no reaction to the faint glow Zekai saw clearly.
Aron slowly wandered a short distance away while looking around the ruined courtyard.
At the same time, a quiet thought surfaced in his mind.
'Could this object actually belong to this world?'
Meanwhile, Zekai opened the black-and-red tarot box.
Inside was an old tarot deck.
The cards carried deep red backgrounds bordered with gold. Strange illustrations were etched into them using black and silver lines that shimmered faintly purple beneath the dim light.
Zekai picked up the top card.
The moment his fingers touched it, a faint vibration passed through the entire deck.
Subtle. Almost like a heartbeat.
The image on the card didn't shift when he tilted it.
It stayed fixed—like it wasn't just artwork. It felt meaningful.
Beneath the deck rested a folded sheet of paper.
The paper crackled when he unfolded it. It felt ancient, yet the dark ink looked unnaturally fresh.
At the top of the page was a heading.
[ CAUTION — RULES ]
Zekai frowned slightly.
The handwriting below looked uneven and rough. Whoever wrote it had pressed hard enough to scar the paper itself.
These didn't feel like instructions.
They felt like warnings written by someone who learned them too late.
"Of course there are rules," Zekai muttered quietly.
The first line read:
[ User blood required for ritual ]
He sighed lightly.
"…Why does everything require blood?"
His eyes moved downward.
[ Rule 0: You were already chosen before you arrived ]
Zekai's expression dimmed slightly.
So even before he realized it—
Something had already chosen him.
[ Rule 1: No Return ]
'Sounds like a seller's policy.'
[ Rule 2: No Escape ]
'…From what?'
Then his eyes stopped again.
[ Rule 3: Don't Fear ]
Zekai stopped reading for a moment and slowly exhaled.
The words felt different from the others. The ink had been carved deeper into the page.
Zekai stared at the line silently.
'…Don't fear.'
The sentence didn't feel written.
It felt enforced. Nobody would write something like that unless fear had already killed someone before.
Without realizing it, his fingers tightened slightly around the paper.
This didn't feel like a warning. It felt like something someone had learned too late.
He slowly continued reading.
[ Rule 4: Be Impossible ]
Zekai scoffed quietly.
'Already doing that.'
That wasn't advice. It was a demand.
A requirement for surviving in this place.
Like existing here normally was no longer enough.
[ Rule 5: Trust Your Instinct ]
'That's not a rule. That's laziness.'
[ Rule 6: Formulate ]
He frowned slightly.
'…Formulate what? A plan… or something else?'
At the bottom of the page:
[ End of Rules — End ]
No explanation followed.
Zekai stared at the paper silently for several seconds before looking back toward the tarot deck.
'…Yeah. That figures.'
"Who even writes rules like this?" he muttered.
"Like you're already trapped inside it."
'No return. No escape.'
'Great. Sounds like a horrible vacation.'
Then his eyes stopped again. There was another line beneath the rules.
[ The God Messenger ]
No explanation followed.
Zekai frowned slightly.
Dramatic. Then another line appeared beneath it.
[ Limit: Arcana users must pre-select a set number of cards each day. Once used, the cards fade and cannot be reused until rest. ]
He blinked slowly.
"…Arcana?"
The word felt strangely familiar.
Like something he should remember but couldn't.
His eyes moved back toward the deck.
"So what… magic tricks?"
"Symbols meant to scare people?"
Then he noticed something else.
The bottom portion of the paper had been torn away completely.
Zekai's eyes narrowed.
"…What?"
Part of the information was missing. Which meant someone had removed it intentionally.
But why?
And more importantly—
who removed it after reading it?
Aron walked back toward him.
"Mr. Zekai, what are you reading?"
"Nothing," Zekai answered casually while folding the paper. "Just useless information."
He folded it once.
Then again. For a brief moment, his fingers paused before he slipped the paper back into the box and returned it to his coat pocket.
'Whatever this thing is… if it wants me to use it, then I'll decide when.'
'Not obey blindly.'
He already had enough problems. He wasn't about to blindly trust cursed cards too.
Then—
BOOM.
The massive gate behind them slammed shut.
✦ End of Chapter 6 — The Rules ✦