The door creaked as it swung open, revealing a space frozen in time.
Dust curled in the dim light filtering through the ceiling's cracks, settling over forgotten relics. Wooden dolls sat with hollow eyes, porcelain figures frozen in poses too delicate to be real, and mechanical toys lay motionless—yet somehow expectant, as if waiting.
Sunny stepped inside, his gaze sweeping across the strange collection. Kai lingered near the entrance, arms crossed, while Seishan and Revel moved cautiously through the room. Death Singer walked with ease, but her sharp gaze flicked between objects, wary.
It wasn't fear holding them back—just unease.
"Creepy," Revel muttered, stopping near a gilded cage. Inside rested a mechanical bird, its folded wings crafted with unnatural precision. Glass eyes gleamed from its head, unnervingly lifelike. She nudged the cage with her foot.
The gears whirred faintly.
Revel pulled her foot back quickly, frowning. "Okay… well, this place is definitely cursed."
Sunny hummed, leaning against an old wooden desk, arms folded. "You know… I once had a cursed sword."
Kai gave him a flat look. "Excuse me?"
Revel raised an eyebrow. "You're serious?"
Sunny shrugged. "Would I joke about something like that?"
Death Singer scoffed under her breath. "Yes."
Sunny ignored her. "It was… different. Elegant, precise. Dangerous in ways that weren't obvious at first."
He exhaled lightly. "It whispered."
The words landed strangely in the room, heavier than they should have been.
Kai didn't speak. Neither did Revel.
Sunny let the quiet linger for a second longer before waving a hand dismissively. "But we won't get into that."
He turned, scanning the room, letting the conversation end as quickly as it had started.
Then—
He saw it.
A rock golem toy, barely the size of his palm. Its carved limbs were jointed with metal hinges, its surface uneven and jagged.
And in the centre of its misshapen head—
A milky, rounded eye.
His breath slowed.
The toy was crude, imperfect—but its proportions were too familiar. The broad, stocky build, the distorted symmetry, the massive asymmetrical torso.
It was Goliath.
The Titan, the stone giant, the creature that had towered over the ruined coast like a small mountain. The thing he had killed in a single blow.
Sunny's fingers traced the edge of the toy, cold against his skin. He could almost see it again—the mounds of stone rising like humps along its back, the three massive arms, the single eye staring into the world.
Kai's voice cut through the moment, casual but curious. "You recognize that thing?"
Sunny hesitated, then finally spoke. "Yeah."
He didn't elaborate.
Before he could say anything else, something shifted.
A faint pressure settled over his chest—not heavy enough to make him stagger, but enough to make his heartbeat feel off-sync. His gaze flickered toward a far wall, where the shadows pooled too deeply.
There was something behind it.
Sunny straightened, his casual demeanour vanishing. "Kai," he murmured. "Check behind that wall."
Kai hesitated, then activated his ability. His gaze sharpened, scanning the space beyond the surface. His expression darkened.
"There's… a room," Kai said slowly. "But something's wrong. I can't see all of it."
Sunny's instincts screamed at him. Danger.
Without another word, he dissolved into shadow, flowing effortlessly through the smallest crack in the wall.
The moment he entered the tunnel, the world shifted.
The darkness was not empty—it was woven.
Strands of ethereal silk stretched in intricate patterns around him. They pulsed faintly, shifting in colour, forming a tapestry that seemed to breathe.
Sunny's gaze flickered toward the weave, his mind struggling to process the sheer complexity of it. It was neither natural nor artificial—it was something else entirely, something greater than him.
Then—
Something stirred.
A presence.
Something watching.
Sunny stopped.