"That... is me."

Surya's voice was barely a whisper. The tomb chamber, silent moments before, felt suddenly suffocating. No wind. No footsteps. Even everyone's breathing sounded deafeningly loud.

Inside the black stone coffin rested a young man bearing the exact same face.

Messy black hair. A small scar over the right eyebrow. Clothes torn at the shoulder, identical to the garments Surya wore after his battle in the Inverted Ocean.

There was no difference. It was as though Surya were looking down at his own sleeping form.

Dimas took several steps backward. "This... this is impossible."

Mr. Yusuf rubbed his face repeatedly. "I must be hallucinating."

Rina couldn't even bring herself to step closer. "Is this an illusion?"

Surya had no answers. He walked slowly toward the stone coffin, drawing closer until the corpse's features were starkly clear.

Pale skin. Cold. Breathless. Yet its expression was peaceful, as if it were merely trapped in a deep, endless slumber.

"What on earth is this place?"

The Relic, silent until now, finally spoke. "The Tomb of a Thousand Kings stores more than just death. It stores time itself."

Surya furrowed his brow. "Stores time?"

Before the Relic could explain—

The Soul Sigil on Surya's palm suddenly flared with black light, weaving an invisible thread connecting him directly to the body inside the coffin. Two lights. One living. One dead. Linked together by a thin, glowing filament.

Thud...

A sharp pain lanced through Surya's skull. Flashes of imagery flooded his mind: himself running, fighting, and finally standing atop a burning mountain while thousands of monsters knelt in the distance.

The visions shattered before he could comprehend them. Surya grabbed his head, hissing, "Ahhh..."

Dimas rushed to his side. "Surya!"

"I'm fine..."

Despite his words, his heart hammered against his ribs. He had just witnessed something that hadn't happened yet.

The Relic spoke again, its tone graver than ever before. "The Shadow World does not follow the linear time of your home world."

Surya slowly raised his head. "What do you mean?"

"Here... the past, present, and future can intersect."

Everyone fell silent. Mr. Yusuf shook his head. "That's impossible."

The Relic paid him no mind. "In the world of mortals, time flows straight. But in the Shadow World, time is a river that has splintered into thousands of branches."

Surya struggled to grasp the concept. "So... that corpse..."

The Relic answered, "It could be you. It could also not be you."

"What kind of answer is that?" Surya snapped, irritation flaring.

Yet the Relic remained composed. "You still cling to the illusion that time has only one path. But it does not."

The statement left Surya frozen.

He looked back down at the body in the coffin. If that corpse truly was his future self... it meant he was fated to die. But if it was him, why was his corpse already resting here when he was still breathing?

His logic was unraveling. He tried connecting the dots—the Inverted Ocean, the Gate of Sacrifice, the Stone City, the Ash Forest. All these places seemed steeped in overlapping, fractured histories. Even the ancient kings of the past had left behind legacies meant to choose heirs in the present.

"Then..." Surya drew a long breath. "Can I still change the future?"

The Relic fell silent once more. After a heavy beat, it replied, "That is why the Shadow World chooses heirs."

"Chooses?"

"To seek a single future... that does not end in destruction."

Surya closed his eyes. For the first time, he felt the weight upon his shoulders was far greater than mere survival.

Dimas slowly approached the coffin. "If that really is you... is he carrying anything?"

Surya leaned in. Resting across the corpse's chest was a small, black-bound ledger. Untitled, save for an ash-gray crown emblem stamped upon the cover, identical to his Soul Sigil.

Surya reached out. The moment his fingertip brushed the book, the pages flipped open on their own. Yet... they were entirely blank. Not a single letter graced the pages.

"Strange." Surya flipped through. Still empty.

The Relic whispered, "The book has not been written yet."

"Not yet?"

"It is the record of your life."

"Then... why is it blank?"

"Because your future is not yet finished."

Surya fell silent again. The more answers he unearthed, the more questions took their place.

Suddenly—

The Ring of the Silent King on Surya's finger vibrated. Its gray gemstone flared with light. And then, the tomb chamber shifted.

The stone walls dissolved, replaced by a cracked crimson sky. Crumbling mountains. Dried-up oceans. Thousands of burning cities littered with corpses as far as the eye could see. Amidst the desolation stood a lone figure with his back turned to Surya, clad in a long black cloak and wielding a massive, fractured sword.

Without turning around, the figure spoke, "You finally arrived."

Surya froze. "Who are you?"

The man gave a low, dry laugh. "It matters not who I am. What matters is... do not repeat the same mistake."

Before Surya could question him, the vision shattered like glass, snapping them back to the tomb chamber. Surya gasped for air, chest heaving.

"That was..."

The Relic answered flatly, "One possible future."

Mr. Yusuf watched Surya with undisguised worry. "Your face is completely pale."

"I saw something."

"What?"

"I don't know. It could be the future. Or it could just be an illusion."

Dimas rubbed the back of his neck. "If this keeps up... I won't even know what reality is anymore."

Surya offered a bitter smile. "Me neither."

He cast his gaze back down to the corpse in the coffin. One detail still bothered him. If that was truly him, why did the dead face look so serene? There was no fear. No agony. It looked as though it had died only after completing a purpose.

Surya reached out. Slowly, he touched the corpse's hand.

Cold. Rigid. Completely like a dead body.

Yet... the moment their skin made contact, the Soul Sigil on Surya's palm blazed with blinding light.

The entire chamber shuddered. Stone debris began cascading from the ceiling.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The stone coffin rocked violently. Rina shrieked, "Earthquake!"

The Relic's voice surfaced, sounding uncharacteristically quiet. But this time, it carried an inflection Surya had never heard from it before—a hint of genuine dread.

"Get away..."

"Now!"

Surya threw himself backward on instinct.

It was too late.

The corpse's fingers twitched. Slowly. Painfully slow. Then, its entire frame shuddered.

The eyelids, sealed shut until now, slowly fluttered open.

Revealing a pair of pitch-black eyes... staring straight into Surya's soul.