At first, Yuan saw nothing but light,so much light that his vision blurred, and his eyes seemed to shine with its overwhelming radiance. And then, in a single breath, it vanished.

Darkness.

Only the flashing afterimages remained, flickering in his sight like dying embers. A sharp pain stabbed at his eyes, forcing him to shut them as he collapsed onto the cold ground.

Taking deep, steady breaths, he clenched his fists and slowly reopened his eyes. The pain lingered, but he ignored it. Then, his voice, dry and rough, broke the silence.

"Fuck that… where am I now?"

He cursed his situation endlessly, his mind still struggling to grasp reality. As his vision adjusted, he quickly realized something different.

He wasn't in that cursed stone room anymore.

A weak chuckle escaped his lips. "What the hell kind of mess have I gotten myself into?" His voice was hoarse but tinged with relief. "I knew nothing from the start… so I suppose surviving is my first goal. Who knows? Maybe there really are some profound secrets hidden here."

Just knowing he had escaped that eerie stone prison was enough to calm him. But as he looked around, his breath hitched.

A forest.

But not the one he had known his entire life.

This was not the Ghost Forest.

For the first time, Yuan stood in a forest untouched by mist. The sight was so unfamiliar,so strange yet so normal,that he found himself stunned into silence.

Towering trees stretched endlessly into the sky, their green leaves swaying gently in the breeze. Vibrant grass blanketed the earth, accompanied by an endless sea of colorful flowers, their petals shifting in the soft wind. The sky above was clear, a deep, beautiful blue, mirroring the stories his grandfather had once told him.

A forest of life.

His lips parted in shock. "Am I… outside the Ghost Forest?" His voice was quiet, disbelieving. "Did I actually leave? Was it… that easy?"

He didn't know.

Yuan had heard of forests like these,but only in stories. Stories of lands untouched by the cursed mist, of worlds beyond the village he had been trapped in for his entire existence.

Yet now, here he was. Seeing it with his own eyes.

A small, almost childlike smile spread across his face. His feet, driven by pure instinct, moved forward. With each step, the joy inside him grew, blooming like the flowers around him.

He walked.

The thought of leaving the forest,or even questioning where he truly was,never crossed his mind. His body simply moved, lost in the moment. The pain in his skull reminded him he was alive, but his mind drifted further from his past, his purpose… even himself.

At some point, his steps became hollow, and his expression dulled.

He forgot why he was here.

He forgot where he had come from.

He became nothing more than a lifeless puppet, drifting endlessly through the vibrant forest.

Then, something changed.

The trees thinned. The forest opened into a vast, serene lake.

Yuan kept walking,but the sight before him forced his mind awake.

The lake was a perfect mirror, reflecting the sky's untouched blue with eerie clarity. But he wasn't alone.

Statues.

Countless statues surrounded the lake.

Sculptures of humans,men and women, frozen in place, expressions carved in eternal silence.

Yuan's dull eyes slowly regained their focus. His mind, once lost in the haze, suddenly snapped back.

And then, it hit him.

A sharp, splitting pain tore through his skull, forcing him to stumble. His body trembled, his breath turned ragged.

Memories rushed back like a crashing wave.

The Ghost Forest.

The Stone Gate.

The Pavilion.

The strange dining hall.

A choked breath left his lips as realization settled in. "I was… about to lose myself?" His voice shook with terror.

He turned,eyes darting back toward the forest he had just left.

The once-beautiful greenery warped before his very eyes.

It was no longer a peaceful forest,it was a trap.

A horrifying, suffocating trap that had almost swallowed him whole.

Yuan's hands clenched into trembling fists.

"So… I'm not out of the Ghost Forest." His voice was barely above a whisper. "I came through the Pavilion… so this must be… the Garden on the Lake."

His gaze swept across the garden.

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Scattered around the serene, glassy lake, figures of stone stood frozen,some half-sunken into the ground, others poised in mid-motion as if caught in time.

Statues.

That was what he assumed at first.

They were arranged in no particular order, some facing the water, others staring off into the distance. Some stood side by side, while others were alone, their arms raised in strange, uncertain gestures.

A strange unease crept over him.

Yuan had seen statues before,but these felt different.

Their expressions were… unsettling.

Statues were supposed to be blank, emotionless, yet these looked too lifelike, as though someone had captured a person's final moment in stone.

Some had furrowed brows, mouths slightly open, as if on the verge of speaking. Others looked like they had been mid-scream, their jaws frozen in unnatural tension.

His fingers twitched.

Something about them unnerved him,but he didn't know why.

Still, he dismissed the feeling.

Perhaps the Pavilion's builders had carved them to look like lost travelers, a warning to those who would tread this path.

He shook his head. "This place is playing tricks on me."

And yet…

He stepped closer to one.

It was a man, standing stiffly with his arms raised as if reaching for something unseen. The detailing was impressive,even the folds in his robes were etched with precision, and the texture of his hair looked so real that for a brief second, Yuan swore he saw it move with the wind.

The longing in the statue's face unsettled him.

His fingers twitched again.

Almost without thinking, he reached out,just to see how the stone felt beneath his fingers.

The moment his skin made contact

A scream.

A wretched, soul-piercing scream tore through the air.

Yuan jerked back violently, his breath hitching. His eyes darted around.

But there was no one.

Nothing but the lake.

Nothing but the statues.

His heartbeat thundered in his chest. Had he imagined that?

He took a shaky breath. His mind was playing tricks on him again. Maybe it was just the wind through the trees, or a distant echo from somewhere in the Pavilion.

But…

A cold sweat dripped down his back.

I have to be sure.

Hesitantly, his trembling hand reached out again,this time, toward a different statue.

The moment his fingers brushed against the stone

Another scream.

Louder.

More anguished.

Yuan yanked his hand back, his entire body shaking.

This wasn't his imagination.

This was real.

His stomach churned as his eyes slowly trailed up.

Then

His breath caught.

The statue's eyes had moved.

They were open now.

Wide. Horror filled.

A violent shudder ran through him. He stumbled back, nearly falling. Then, almost against his will, he tested another.

And another.

Each time,a scream.

Each time,the same horror filled eyes staring back at him.

His breath came in ragged gasps. A cold dread seized his chest.

"These statues… they… they're alive?"

They had walked the same path.

They had reached the Pavilion.

And then…

They lost themselves.

Just like he almost had.

His body trembled. His vision blurred.

If he had taken even one more step… if his headache hadn't reminded him he was still alive…

Would he have become one of them?

A cold shudder ran through him.

His voice was barely a whisper. "What a cruel fate."

He exhaled shakily. "Thank the damn heavens that I survived."

But now…

He had to move forward.

He turned, eyes locking onto the forest path ahead,the westward path.

It would lead him back to the Pavilion.

A bitter chuckle escaped his lips. "Of course. I have to go back."

He took a deep breath, glancing one last time at the lake of statues.

Doubt whispered in his mind. Was this truly the right path?

But then, he muttered to himself, his voice steady.

"It doesn't matter. Right or wrong… I know nothing."

"Death is already waiting for me."

"So I will walk forward, survive… and defy it."

With that, he turned away from the lake and stepped into the dreadful forest ahead,his resolve unshaken.

No hesitation.

No regrets.

Only the path forward.

Walking through the dreadful forest toward the west, Yuan's mind was now clear, allowing him to observe his surroundings with sharper awareness.

The forest itself was dimly lit,the thick canopy of leaves and towering trees blocked most of the sunlight, letting only a few scattered beams pierce through. Yet, despite the lack of light, the scenery was strangely pleasing to the eye.

From time to time, clusters of berries caught his attention, growing in abundance along the bushes. Some were deep red, others dark blue, and some even had a strange violet hue. Yuan had seen berries before, but these… they seemed different.

His stomach tightened. Hunger slowly crept in.

Yuan carefully examined the berries, picking out the ones he recognized—ones he knew were safe to eat. After ensuring they were not poisonous, he hesitated only for a moment before putting a few into his mouth.

A sudden burst of flavor spread across his tongue.

These berries…

"They're delicious!"

Compared to the ones he had eaten back in his village, these were far juicier, sweeter, and far more refreshing. He couldn't help but take a few more, savoring their taste as he felt a bit of his strength return.

After eating to his satisfaction, Yuan gathered a handful more, storing them inside his small pouch before continuing his journey.

Now with a full stomach, his body felt more at ease,at least for the time being.

For what felt like an hour, he walked steadily forward, the icy wind brushing against his skin, whispering through the trees. Other than the violent gusts of wind, nothing else happened. No strange figures. No eerie voices. Just the endless, dark forest stretching before him.

Then, in the distance

A break in the trees.

Yuan's heart skipped a beat.

An exit.

A sudden rush of excitement overtook him, and without thinking, he ran toward the clearing. A small smile formed on his face as he finally stepped out of the forest.

And what awaited him left him breathless.

There was no lake this time.

Instead

A massive pavilion.

It stood before him like a silent giant, its towering structure far larger than he could have ever imagined. Yuan tilted his head back, trying to see its peak, but it stretched so high that it nearly touched the sky itself.

And yet…

It was not the same pavilion he had seen in the painting from the eerie dining hall.

No,this pavilion looked ancient, forgotten, and dangerously fragile, as if a single touch could send it crumbling into dust. The once grand pillars were now cracked and chipped, covered in layers of moss and vines. Deep carvings of countless patterns lined its walls,patterns that had not been present in the painting.

Most unsettling of all

The square shaped symbol.

It was etched everywhere.

The moment Yuan laid eyes on it, a wave of familiarity hit him.

"Where have I seen this before…?"

His mind raced, searching through his memories,until suddenly, it clicked.

Two years ago. His village.

There had been an old, crumbling pavilion,one of the three ancient buildings left abandoned for generations. The adults had long deemed it too old and unstable to use, so they tore it down, planning to rebuild something new in its place.

And now…

Yuan's breath hitched.

This pavilion looked exactly like it.

His hands clenched into fists. "What is this place…? How is it connected to my village?"

But no answer would come.

Not until he left this place.

Determined to find out the truth, Yuan began to circle the pavilion, searching for an entrance. He walked almost an entire round before finally spotting a set of doors at its base.

Slowly, cautiously, he stepped closer.

The patterns on the doors began to glow.

A soft, golden light pulsed through the intricate carvings, spreading outward like ripples on water. Moments later, the entire pavilion began to glow as well.

Yuan's eyes widened.

For the first time since arriving, he felt genuine shock.

As the glow intensified, the massive doors trembled and then, with a deep, rumbling groan, they began to open.

A sudden dread crept into Yuan's chest.

This could be the right path.

Or it could be a deadly trap.

But in the end, it didn't matter.

He didn't know what was right or wrong.

And with no hesitation left in his heart, he stepped forward.

Crossing the threshold, he entered the pavilion,into the unknown.