"What's with this headache?" Enzo muttered, then tiredly walked through the same door, restarting the loop he had been trapped in.
He did this over and over again, and every time he noticed the feline creature, he would enter the loop again—forcing him to go back to step one.
This went on for a couple of hours, leaving Enzo with a head-splitting migraine.
On his 74th try, Enzo stopped moving. He didn't enter the room with the feline. Instead, he stopped to hold his head and rest against the side of the wall.
"Something's wrong with this place," he muttered. A headache like this—centered in that part of the brain—was usually caused by stress and confusion. But if he remembered correctly, he hadn't actually been here that long.
Just five minutes. Why would he have such a severe headache?
"Hm?" All of a sudden, from the corner of the room, he peered into the room in front and tilted his head.
"Zyrian crystal?" Right there on the floor, a chunky crystal faced him.
This wasn't a mining world, and sure, Zyrian crystals could be found on a great many worlds—but this was strange. It wasn't buried, just sitting casually on the floor.
"Don't look left." The second thing he noticed was a writing on the crystal's surface, stained in blood. He squinted, his brow tightening into a deeper frown.
At this point, he was confused, and the headache wasn't helping. So he sat there, for several long minutes, trying to calm himself down.
"I'm in a loop," he whispered.
A few things proved it. He had just checked his spectral necklace and noticed it was missing a Zyrian crystal—so it was fair to assume the one in the room he "had never been in" was his.
Of course, that alone was a ludicrous assumption—but something else caught his eye.
There were bloodstains on his fingers.
"Don't look left." That was pretty straightforward, Enzo thought. He didn't know why he shouldn't look left, but right now, he could use all the help he could get in this godforsaken place.
So he stood up and walked into the room at a slant, making sure not to look left at all. He didn't even pick up the Zyrian crystal before heading straight into another room off to the side.
"Hm?"
Noticing Enzo's strange actions, the feline creature's two normal eyes snapped open in confusion. The kid didn't notice him this time?
No… that didn't make sense. He had noticed its presence 74 times already. It would be strange not to now.
"He's heading down to the… well, let's see." The feline tilted its head and stood up to follow Enzo.
Its original plan was to wear him out enough to devour him for food. But seeing that passive methods weren't working, it decided to follow him.
⸻
"Hmm, it's following me."
Inside the dark corridor, Enzo walked steadily, sensing the ominous presence trailing behind him—slowly, without urgency.
'Why am I so unlucky?!'
He thought bitterly. He had previously assumed the creature was just testing him and would leave after he passed… but it was following him?
Maybe it wasn't some sort of test. Maybe it wanted to kill him.
The worst part was—he couldn't even look back to confront the damn thing. Not unless he wanted to enter the loop again.
Creatures like these were best avoided completely.
"Forward it is." With no other choice, Enzo tightened his guard and kept a steady pace, maintaining a good 20-meter gap between him and the thing stalking him.
⸻
Walking through the corridor, Enzo gradually realized he was descending. The murals on the walls depicted a degenerative flow of events, as if he were traveling down a river of time.
"Is that light?"
After a long journey through the oppressive darkness, a flicker of brightness pierced through the gloom ahead.
Light at the end of the tunnel, huh? he thought. The creature still wasn't making any moves to harm him, so maybe it wasn't as dangerous as he thought.
And with the light in front of him? Maybe he could finally find a way out.
Several minutes later, Enzo exited the shadowy corridor and stepped into the light.
"Woah."
He breathed the word out, gazing at the surreal scene before him.
This building—this tomb—was in the middle of a vast desert.
"Four suns is wild," he muttered, feeling the blistering rays scorch his skin. He couldn't even imagine the day-and-night cycle here.
As he stood on the balcony, observing the endless sands, a pair of eyes watched him from the shade, keeping a cautious distance.
"Looks like I was right. It can't go into the sun." Enzo muttered under his breath.
He still didn't dare look directly at the feline creature behind him—but that didn't mean he couldn't scheme against it.
His quest involved a vampire. Aside from folklore, he didn't know much about them. But the system wouldn't have created the mission unless it was real.
So, using what little he knew and a bit of luck, he'd concluded the creature loved the dark and that sunlight was its weakness.
Thankfully, it seemed he was right.
Or… so he thought.
⸻
"Hey kid, you're a night creature, aren't you? Why are you able to resist the rays of the sun?"
A small, childish voice whispered right next to Enzo—so close he froze.
Sitting casually on his shoulder was a small, white feline creature with a closed third eye, peering at him.