"Yes. Some parts of our personal worlds overlap with each other perfectly.

"These overlapping parts are what I'll call 'common areas.'

"They're places that exist for everyone, no matter what their world looks like," I said.

Mira frowned. "Can you explain that in a simpler way?"

"Think of it like this," I said. "Imagine ten transparent maps stacked on top of each other.

"Wherever all ten maps have a road drawn in the same spot, that road exists for everyone. That's a common area.

"For example, the corridor in my facility might be a walkway in Mira's library, a tunnel in Ellyn's sewer, and a road in Lars's city.

"They all overlap in the same space, even though we see different versions of it," I explained.

Calliope rubbed her arm. "S-So… if we stay in these overlapping places, we'll be fine?"

"Yes. We can see each other, talk to each other, even touch each other in those areas. But if someone walks into a place that only exists in their own perception, that's when danger starts."

Ellyn hesitated. "You mean… like an illusion?"

"No. That's not how it works," I said. "For example, if in your view there's an open door, but in everyone else's view there's a solid wall, and you walk through that door, you've just stepped into an area that doesn't exist for anyone else."

"What happens then?" Lars asked quietly.

"You will disappear. As for what happens after that… I don't know."

Mira bit her lip harder.

What I said was exactly what had happened to Selene.

But the truth was, I did know what happened to those who stepped outside of common areas.

According to Yuna, this domain was a place where several different dimensions were colliding.

The parts where these dimensions overlapped were the only areas we could safely exist in.

If we entered a part that existed only in our own perception, we would fall permanently into our personal world/dimension and be removed from the intersection of dimensions.

When that happened, we would vanish from everyone else's sight.

From our perspective, the others would vanish instead.

We'd be trapped in our own personal world, unable to return to intersection of personal worlds.

If I entered such an area now, I'd still be in the same underground facility, but I'd be alone in it.

I would no longer be able to perceive the intersection connecting me to the others.

That's why I couldn't sense the space stones of Selene, Zephan, and Denny.

They had must have already fallen into their own dimensions.

Or….

They must've fallen prey to whoever was supposed to capture us.

Mira broke the silence. "Then we should start looking for a way out. I'd like to have [Destiny] here to guide us, but I guess we can't have everything we want."

Everyone could see her clenching her fists.

She definitely wanted to find her sister, but she knew better.

In any domain, the first step was to understand its rules.

Rescuing the victims came later.

"Stay on your toes. Everyone must have heard an announcement when we came here. We are experiment subjects who escaped, and someone is going to show up to capture us any moment."

The younger children moved closer to her.

Seeing her calm confidence seemed to give them some comfort.

Lars looked at her. "Do you have any idea how to escape?"

"Not yet. But look for things that are common in all our surroundings. That'll tell us more about what this place actually is," she said, reciting the standard domain exploration method.

We began to search.

I moved through the corridor carefully, brushing aside hanging wires.

The others described what they saw as they moved too.

Then Mira spoke. "I see a book with red cover on the floor."

I stopped. "I see it too. It's in the middle of the corridor, but mine has torn black cover."

"There's a book lying on the side of the sewer path for me. Red cover with a claw design on it," Ellyn muttered.

After I translated our words, Lars added, "To me it looks like it has purple cover. It's lying on the broken arcade shop's floor."

That confirmed it.

The book was a common object, visible to all of us, even if it had different cover for us all.

Mira knelt down and picked it up.

The book was thick, bound in brown leather.

She opened it.

"It's empty—" she began, but stopped when a small slip of paper fell out.

"What is it?" I asked.

She picked it up.

Her eyes widened slightly.

"There's writing on it."

We could all read it, except Lars, thanks to the Cursed Spirit [Knowledge] corrupting us.

Mira read it aloud.

[It's impossible to escape this place! It's impossible! All of us failed!]

The words hung in the air for a few seconds.

"A clue," Mira said finally.

She showed the paper to the others.

"Look at your chests. Our subject numbers don't go from one to ten. They're random. That means there are others subjects.

"Maybe they tried to escape in the past. These notes must have been left by one of them," she said.

Lars looked at me.

I explained her words to him.

"So you think there are more clues like this?" Lars asked.

"Yes. We should keep searching. If we can find more, we'll understand more about this place, and about the Cursed Spirit that's behind it," Mira said.

Everyone nodded.

We continued walking.

The air in my corridor felt heavier with each step.

The sound of water dripping echoed faintly.

Our arrangement stayed the same: Mira at the front, Lars guarding the back.

They were our strongest damage dealers, so that was the safest setup.

Ellyn whispered, "It's so quiet here. But I feel like we are not alone."

"Don't jinx it," Mira said, chopping her head and forcing a small smile.

But then I felt something shift.

A faint tremor ran through the floor beneath me.

My instincts screamed.

"Stop," I said.

Everyone froze.

Then, behind Lars, a figure appeared out of nowhere.

It was huge, at least three and a half meters tall.

Its body was distorted, as if made of overlapping shadows and muscle. Its head was a skull with a long snout.

"Lars—!" I started, but before I could finish, the creature swung its arm.

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