Zaria let go of his chin, took a few steps back, and folded her arms before she spoke in an irritated tone, "It wouldn't have been an issue if you hadn't lost your memories."

A frown puckered Jaden's lips. He leaned forward, placed his hands together, and asked, "What do you mean?"

She heaved a sigh and replied, "That diary is given to those who are already in contact with us — the Shadow Order."

He lowered his head, rubbed the mark of a snake biting its own tail, and mumbled, "Do you know why I came in contact with the Shadow Order last time?"

She jumped on the bed, placed her head on her hand and her elbow on her leg as she answered, "I don't know... No one does, I believe."

'What?' His brows rose in confusion, he put the book aside and asked, "Do you not have some type of recorded entries?"

"There's no recorded entry of what you did last time. We only know that you are connected to us, but how? I have no damn clue."

'Not again,' he cursed his luck while rubbing his temples. He leaned back in his chair and went silent for a few moments.

The bedroom fell into silence as Jaden thought and Zaria stared at him.

Unable to let the silence stretch further, she lifted her head, lowered her hand and asked, "Let's finish our conversation before falling into deep contemplation, all right?"

He came out of his thoughts and gave her a nod before asking, "Have you even been to the shadow realm?"

She blinked a few times, her lips curled up as she let out a chuckle, and answered, "I have not... I believe the only person who knows the way to enter the shadow realm is the Shadow Sovereign."

Just as she finished, a message appeared before him.

[Quest: Find the realm gate of Shadow Sovereign.]

[Reward: ???]

'Shadow Sovereign... the hidden sovereign of humanity.'

He shifted his focus away from the screen and entered his shelf of thoughts.

He could finally see a light at the end of a dark road, and that light was the Shadow Sovereign, who Zaria believed knew the way to the shadow realm.

Jaden had read the two books that were left in his study room by him before he had lost his memories, and he discovered that shadows were not merely something cast by the blockage of light; instead, they were a part of one's being, just like souls.

However, shadows differed from souls in two crucial ways: they didn't need life. They could exist without it. And most importantly for him, shadows were the incorporeal bridge to one's memories.

He already had a clue about what he would have to do to regain his memories — he would have to kill himself. Not the true him but his shadow... the shadow that now rules over the broken citadel.

The dark figure that he had met after meeting that black feathered owl.

But that wasn't the end of his worries... he had read about the Shadow Realm, and if it was true that the shadows of the dead went there, then there was a high possibility of it being filled with deadly, disastrous nightmares and star beasts.

He finished his thoughts and asked, "So what do I have to do to meet him?"

"Hmm?" She raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You can't meet the Sovereign just because you want to... It's up to him if he wants to meet you or not."

"I understand, but can I not do some kind of mission or task to meet him?"

"Why are you talking like we are some kind of mercenary group...?"

A dumbfounded look appeared on his face as he muttered, "Are you not?"

She shook her head. "No, we are not. We simply help the arcane knights with the mark of shadow because they usually lack the personality to build connections... they are simply too introverted for their own good." Her last words held a hint of pity.

He blinked his eyes in bafflement at her words and asked, "Why would you do that?"

"You ask as if it is something weird... our world is already so broken, is there any need for us to break it even further?"

He turned silent at her words and thought, 'She is right... These people are different from me. They have seen and been through things I can only imagine... The world they know is different from mine, so are their opinions and thoughts.'

The sudden conclusion hit him like a bolt.

He finally understood the meaning behind Maria's words...

Others may have called him paranoid, but to him, he was simply being cautious; however, he didn't think of how different the lives of the people who had lived through these otherworldly disasters were.

For them, survival of their own, of their family, and of humanity was more important than some random young man... he was simply failing at seeing the bigger picture.

'How could I be so stupid?'

Jaden had finally understood what he was doing wrong; He was being short-sighted.

There was no need for him to hide or run from attention; instead, he needed it as much as he could get.

He needed the support of the people so he could climb higher and faster... His abilities were not something to hide; instead, they were the very thing this world needed to know the most.

The corruption and schemes that he had seen around himself in his past life had blinded him.

Fortunately, the smoke that had shortened his vision was no longer there.

A heavy sigh escaped his lips, followed by a hollow chuckle.

Zaria frowned and asked with a confused look, "What's funny?"

He looked at her and spoke, "Thank you... Because of you, I can see the things I couldn't before. I am deeply thankful to you for that."

Her frown deepened even further, but she decided against asking any other question, "I-I see."

______

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Goals

• 100 power stones = extra 1 chapter.

• 100 golden tickets = extra 1 chapter.

• 100 collections = extra 1 chapter.

• Golden Castle = extra 5 chapters.

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