?“It seems that you failed this test again,” a lady said with disappointment.

  ?I was doomed. The lady suddenly patted my head. I raised my gaze to her face.

  ?“It’s okay, Jett, Mom will not punish you. But promise one thing, don’t judge yourself because you can’t. You can’t be perfect as others do, but you can be perfect as you are,” she comforted me.

  ?“I’m sorry, Mom. I will try to make the best for you,” I hugged her.

  ?Immediately, something disturbed us. I heard the door knocking. We gazed at the door. As the door slowly opened, a figure stepped in. Before I could see the face, my breath grew heavier. I felt like something was blocking it.

  ?I struggled, then I opened my eyes. A cat was sitting on top of my face. I grabbed the cat and lifted it. The pupils were glimmering in purple. I glanced at its neck. There was a key-shaped object made of quartz hanging on the necklace.

  ?I looked around the room. The room I’ve never been in. It was well organized and antiqued. Suddenly, a knocking noise at the door called out. I sat on the bed with the cat in my grasp.

  “My apologies for entering without permission,” a familiar male voice said from behind the door.

  ?He slowly opened the door. My gaze pointed at him. A tall man with a scratched left eye, he was Sievert. He noticed I was awake.

  “Morning Rirthe,” he brought me a cup of hot tea and pastries.

  “Good morning sir,” I bowed from the bed.

  ?He slowly walked towards me. He glanced at my chest, or perhaps the cat.

  “It seems that Ethia likes your presence here,” he said as he put the tea and pastries on the desk.

  ?“I was being woken up by him sitting on my face,” I put Ethia down.

  “Then, how’s your body? Feeling better?” He took Ethia and lifted him.

  I checked my body thoroughly. I barely sensed any pain as I moved around the bed.

  “Yeah…” I said as he patted Ethia.

  “Your injury is not that serious, so you’ll be able to leave soon. Please, take a sip of the tea,” he

  “Where am I?” I took a cup of hot tea.

  As I blew tea to cool it down, Ethia jumped out from the Sievert grip. He walked and jumped onto the dresser. Then, I glanced at a big picture frame of a blank canvas. The canvas was rippling.

  Slowly, the canvas drew a scene of this town. The night sky was filled with the glitter of stars. The dim lights cast a darkness over the town. And suddenly, the black crayon began to take hold of the canvas.

  It spun around. And around slowly and steadily. As the blank in the drawing grew bigger into a bigger space of blackness. Covered the town.

  “We are in the Histrionic Kin playhouse,” he said.

  Ethia then jumped off the dresser and walked his way out of the room. The imagination was really messing with my mind. Was it because of Ethia?

  “May I know who Ethia really is?” I took a sip of the tea.

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  “Ethia? He was just an ordinary cat whom we adopted from the street,” he stood up and walked closer to the big blank canvas.

  An ordinary cat? I didn’t believe it immediately.

  “I expected you didn’t believe it,” He touched the canvas.

  “Look at this canvas, it’s alive. You won’t understand the beauty of the mystery that this world creates.” He gazed at me.

  The canvas immediately recovered the night town. But it didn’t stop there. The town slowly disintegrated into a piece of empty canvas.

  “He is a part of Vulnerable Vassal #27.” He stared at me.

  “What do you mean by a part of?” I stopped my sip.

  “He was part of his owner, Arietta Lipyne,” he said.

  The silence in the room started to grow an unsettling atmosphere. The air became dense. My lungs felt tight. It made my breath heavier.

  “She is the one who currently leads this kin,” He walked closer to me.

  My eardrums were ringing, barely hearing his words. My hands covered my ears. As he walked closer, my sight suddenly shifted.

  The air became lighter. Sounds all were muted. And the view, a radiance of iridescence. A deep surreal radiance surrounded my sight.

  I slowly ascended my body. I tried scanning through the dimension, but there was just an endless stream of light.

  As my gaze turned down, I glanced at a black cat sitting in front of me. Perhaps it was Ethia. He acted like a normal cat. Licked his feet, moved his ears, and snored. Suddenly, a heavy sound was heard in my head.

  “A person here?” He questioned my appearance here.

  Who was talking? Ethia? He was cleaning his body with his tongue. The sound echoed immediately into my mind.

  “May I know you?” He asked.

  “Pardon, I’m Rirthe Virtanous. I was part of the Histrionic Kin,” I talked to Ethia.

  Out of nowhere, a butterfly appeared. It flew around above Ethia. The butterfly was radiating prismatic and luminous light. Ethia noticed his natural behavior taking over the cat’s body. His body tried to catch the luminous butterfly.

  I felt a glitchy presence around the butterfly.

  “Hmn? Why is there ‘Luminance Butterfly’ here?” He seemed confused.

  “Who is it?” I saw both of them playing around.

  “It is the fundamental manifestation of Probability. Or people call it a deity,” He said.

  A god appeared in my sight. It didn’t feel right. It was static. It was far beyond our humankind to really imagine physically. But, this dimension covered the flaw of the concept.

  “It appeared because it is part of countless possible paths,” Ethia explained.

  The butterfly began to fly closer to me. As Ethia cat’s body stood still from its last standing, the butterfly perched on my head. It was light almost like nothing on it

  “What’s your pathway?” Suddenly, Ethia asked as if in a hurry.

  “… I haven’t elected any of them,” I saw Ethia’s body.

  He didn’t respond to my replies. It took a while until he replied to me.

  “Which one will you pick for now?” He asked.

  “I couldn’t decide. Each of them had its own advantage,” I stepped closer to the cat.

  “So, the things that draw you back are the consequences for the ascension?” The cat came and jumped into my hand.

  The butterfly flapped its wings. Without warning, the dimension we were in was shaking. My step was unsteady. The cat fell out of my grip as the butterfly flew off from my head.

  “Even if you don’t pick any of them, you will be one of them,” his voice slowly became smaller and muted.

  Ethia cat’s body began to disintegrate into dimension. The butterfly was glitching out and finally dissolved. As the dimension shook, my head hit the surface. I passed out.

  “One of them?” my mind thought.

  Then, I woke up. My body didn’t lie down. But the consciousness from before the dimension called back. I returned to the last position. Sievert was already close to me. He waved his hand in my sight.

  “Hello? Anyone there?” He asked.

  “Pardon me for ignoring you,” I bowed my head.

  “You have been dazed for two minutes,” he stopped his waving.

  Two minutes? It felt like an hour in there. Perhaps, the dimension bent the time over. Then, something clicked in my mind.

  “Is it possible to attend with other than the main pathways?”