Elias made sure to catch the words before they disappeared, otherwise, he would have had to wait till the next day to repeat the entire process all over again.

He wasn't sure his sanity could hang on for that long, so he was immensely glad that he had been observing every nook and cranny of the statue for any observable clue or change.

This helped him to swiftly grasp the words when they appeared, replaying them presently within his mind as he sought to uncover the mysteries behind the unique circumstances he had now found himself.

'Two pairs of eyes point the direction, for an artistic painting remains as true as a false illusion.'

'What you see might not be the real thing, yet what you feel also might not be as well. It all depends on what you—the searcher, decide to be true.'

'Never forget to always take in the full picture.'

This next clue seemed to be more of a riddle than a poem, as its contents appeared as elusive as they were confusing.

Elias didn't know what their esteemed founder's goal was to set aside these types of mysterious traces before he vanished, but he definitely thought that this was an entire waste of time.

If it wasn't for the intense surge of fixation brewing within his heart he would have initially abandoned the whole thing altogether, pretending as if he wasn't aware of the clues and continuing with his day.

He had already entertained the thought of going to report the matter to Professor Doherty or the Principal—Mr. Giuseppe Conti, but was struck by an intense wave of palpation immediately he considered the thought, almost as if his heart was being pierced by a sharp steel rod.

This immediately made him realize that there was no getting out of the present situation, as from the moment he noticed the ether swirling around the initial red letters, his fate had already been sealed.

He had to get to the bottom of it by relying on himself alone, at least based on the intentions of the ambiguous Benign Philosopher.

Elias took a moment to think, contemplating if sharing the details with Lars would lead to a similar result.

He hadn't done so previously due to the fear that emanated from the initial try, as just entertaining the thought of sharing it with someone else was enough to make him—who was already an Apostolic Deacon, tremble in fear.

This made him realize that the intent contained within the letters was of a much higher level, so he didn't want to take the risk. However now, Elias decided to try, as he felt like he would need his brother's help to get to the bottom of the second riddle.

He and Lars had always been one with each other since birth, sharing the same body and experiences. It was just their soul that was individualistic, and even then they had developed some type of spiritual synergy with each other over time, possibly because they had both been sharing the same vessel for over eighteen years.

Elias swiftly decided that it was worth a try, but also prepared himself to end the conversation if the sudden feeling of trepidation welled up again.

He calmly called out to Lars, leading to the latter materializing closely beside him.

Unlike before, Lars's phantom-like body was more hazy, but solid, almost as if his spirit form had become more used to the physical world. It was no longer as taxing as before to maintain his phantom state, vastly due to the fact that he now understood his spirit nature better due to the rich supply of books he now had on the topic.

His deep and dark eyes surveyed his surroundings, his gaze curious but lax. They eventually settled on Elias, before noticing the signs of fatigue and anxiousness on his face.

"You okay there? You look like you need a nap."

Elias accepted his brother's concern with a smile, indicating that he was all right and he didn't need to worry. The look of anxiousness once again appeared in his eyes, before he decided to take a risk to speak, revealing to Lars everything that was going on.

Elias gladly realized that his conversation with Lars went by quite smoothly, with him not being assaulted by any feelings of fear. This confirmed his suspicions, which was that due to his and his brother's unique bodily circumstances, they would ultimately be treated as the same person.

Lars listened to everything with a straight face, before ruminating over the entire ordeal.

He spoke after a bit of time, his tone wistful and a bit sarcastic, "How many of these situations have you been involved in already? Maybe by the time you graduate, they would be enough to make for quite the fantasy story."

Elias sighed with a melancholic heart, as he perfectly agreed with his brother.

The twins were brought back to the matter at hand, with Lars raising a suggestion.

"The first line of the riddle seems to be the center of focus, with the last part acting as a supporting role. Based on this direction, is it safe to take the painting as the main focus or the eyes?"

Elias thought for a bit, switching to the tone of a scholar.

"When we take into consideration the fact that the founder must have Intended for the clues to be led back to the academy, there is only one correct answer isn't there?"

Both brothers looked at each other, sharing a knowing glance as they both thought of the same thing.

It was the painting!

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The main reason was that the academy just so happened to have a place dedicated solely to visual artistry, a gallery built for the display of the paintings collected by the founder over the years he was alive.

The point of the eyes in the riddle seemed to be a clue supplementing the presence of the painting as its main subject, meaning that it was more of a supporter rather than a main detail.

"Another reason I believe this angle more is the fact that our founder seems to base these clues on the interests he had before his disappearance. The first clue was hidden in his interest in poems, whereas this is in his interest in paintings."

Lars nodded, accepting the explanation as it seemed to make sense to him while not contradicting any major clue.

This led to Elias's new direction being the academy's Art Museum, as he couldn't wait to get rid of the glaring feeling of disturbance hidden within his mind.

...

The academy's Art Museum was moderately spaced, which was quite intriguing when compared to the status of the individual it was dedicated to.

It looked even smaller than some of the Departmental buildings, making its existence not draw unnecessary attention while being glamorous enough to stand out when compared to the other buildings around it.

The building was lined with numerous blocks of limestone, with basalt acting as the material built into the foundational layer. Unlike the usual gold and white aesthetic choice of the academy, the museum was instead almost completely beige, with some parts like the supporting columns having darker shades vastly due to the materials used in constructing them.

The inside of the museum was lined in marble, making the sunlight bounce and reflect off onto the walls, causing the halls to have a subtle nostalgic touch.

Paintings of various artistic styles and quality were neatly arranged all around the gallery walls, with the main center of attraction being the painting set used by the uncanny scholar before his disappearance.

It comprised a set of color-splattered paintbrushes, a worn-down canvas with a half-done painting of a clear white rainbow sky, and a palette that appeared to be almost broken in half.

Elias stood close to the painting set, admiring its subtle sense of beauty even with its deteriorating state. His eyes drifted to the unfinished painting, noting how he could visualize the appearance of the sky within it, almost as if he was seeing it for himself.

The colors and images seemed to come alive, drawing him into a visual reverie that bordered between a beautiful illusion and a chaotic mess of ideas.

Elias slowly felt that the image looked familiar, but he couldn't quite pinpoint where this familiarity came from.

That was until Lars spoke out, his voice holding both amazement and appreciation.

"What a beautiful painting. It reminds me of the sky during the Solstice Shower that we witnessed all those years ago. It is such a pity that he wasn't able to finish it."

Elias finally realized where the familiarity was coming from. It was very similar to the sky during the shower, even being similar to what was described by Professor Windsor during his class.

"That's true. I don't blame him for taking inspiration from that event, the sky was so breathtakingly beautiful that even I would have done so if I was an artist.

"Anyway let's focus on our objectives, we have about 45 different paintings to inspect after all."

After almost an hour of inspecting every painting in the gallery, Elias moved to a quiet corner to contemplate, as he hadn't yet gotten any clues.

"The riddle says that the eyes point to the direction, does that mean that there is something symbolic pointing to the painting we are looking for, or is it an eye in the literal sense?"

Elias asked the question, clearly confused about where to go from here.

This question seemed to give Lars some much-needed inspiration, as he told Elias to wait at the side before floating out of his body while moving to inspect the paintings once again.

After about thirty more minutes Lars floated back over, his eyes mildly excited.

"What you said gave me some inspiration and I decided to check out the paintings once again. It turns out that apart from two specific paintings, all the other paintings that have eyes are looking in random directions. Only two are facing the same place, and you wouldn't believe where they are facing."

Elias followed Lars over, inspecting the two paintings in question.

One of the paintings was titled 'The Elven Bowman', and was a painting of an elf stringing a bow in a lush grove garden. The elf in the painting was pointing his bow to the east, but his eyes were surprisingly trailing to the southeast.

The other painting was a portrait of a pure and beautifully fair maiden, titled 'The Beauty of Innocence'. The lady's eyes were soft yet firm, looking towards a direction that coincidentally aligned with the path of the Elven Bowman.

Elias walked calmly towards the intersection point, coming in front of the worn-out painting set, which he had just been previously admiring.

"No wonder you said I wouldn't believe it. It's quite shocking that we had already arrived at our destination. So ironic."

Lars nodded, sharing the same sentiments.

"I know right? This founder of ours is quite tricky, he literally hid it in plain sight, gathering the most attention while still being the last place anyone would think to look."

He moved closer, observing the canvas up close.

"But what's so special about this anyway? Aside from it having an incomplete image of the Solstice Shower, it seems to be a relatively normal painting set."

Elias pitched in, scanning the set for hardly noticeable signs.

"The poem noted that the painting is a false illusion, so we need to focus on the painting itself, not the painting set. It also states that what we see and feel might not be true, rather it depends on what we want to be true instead."

Lars felt confused, feeling like the phrase itself didn't make much sense.

"But if what we see and feel might both be true, how do we determine which method works for us."

Elias smiled, leaning closer to carefully touch the edge of the canvas. Light touching of the painting set was allowed, so long as one doing it didn't cause any damage to it.

"I think I get it now. When I was looking at the painting previously, I truly felt like I was seeing the scenes come to life. But I only saw them, I never truly felt them. If what you see and feel stands alone as illusions, then what happens if you try to see and feel them at the same time?

"Art isn't only meant to appeal to the eyes, but it is also used to communicate emotions to the viewer. In that case, only 'seeing' the art won't cut it, we also have to 'feel' the emotions communicated by each brush to truly get the bigger picture."

Lars quipped,

"So because most people will view the piece as incomplete, they will only focus on seeing it, rather than feeling it, causing them to miss the full detail. This is why the painting is referred to as a false illusion since it aims to divert the mind."

"Exactly. Now that we know this, I think the next step is to..." Elias gazed at the painting, immersing himself in its colors, "Feel and see the painting as one!"

Immediately Elias locked his sight onto the painting, the colors and tones seemed to once again explode from the canvas, bringing the beautifully transparent rainbow sky to life.

Only this time, Elias not only immersed in sight, but also in emotions. He experienced the weight of every brush stroke as they were used to create the lavish scene.

His emotions and sight resonated into one, causing the part of the painting that was previously incomplete to slowly fade into reality.

It was as if a divine invisible hand had appeared to complete the work, brush stroke after brush stroke appearing on the canvas as the scene rushed to completion.

The appearance of the full scene caused another series of explosive colors, almost as if the entire world had become one huge color palette.

Elias and Lars were sucked into these swirling hues, their visions blurring before they suddenly found themselves in an unknown environment.

They looked around their surroundings with both fright and amazement, before noticing an opened book in front of them, the page plain and empty aside from one simple but straightforward sentence,

'Do you consider yourself a good person?'