47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5oKsQuZ94UCASTLE FORTRESS MAIN GATE — ROAD TO LILLY'S —
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Metro steps out from the cafeteria into the main hall, the echo of clinking dishes and soldiers chatter fading behind them. The stone walls loom quietly. Everything seems oddly normal — Until he reaches the outer doors. The rain greets him like a heavy curse. Grey morning light filters through storm clouds, casting over a darkened spell across the castle grounds. His cloak is wrapped tightly around his scroll — tucked safely in his backpack. The fabric clings to his shoulder, gathering misty rain drops. He presses on through the eeriness, walking slowly, gripping his pack straps.
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The outer court is a graveyard.
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Soldiers drag bandit corpses through the mud in eeriness. Their armor is slick with rain and blood. A few soldiers lay among the dead — faces pale, limbs twisted. Most of the fallen are bandits their bodies dumped into shallow ditches, covered in wet soil. The torches from the night have burnt out, leaving only the cold morning gloom.
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Metro continues to walk through the rain, alone.
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His boots sink into the mud. The rain, drumming against his braided locks. He doesn't speak, doesn't flinch. He simply moves forward, a moving body among shadows.
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He turns right at the fork in the trail —and the world shifts.
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— Whispering Forest —
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The path slips beneath the canopy of the Whispering Forest, where the pine and oak tree's surround him. Branches fall overhead, trembling under the rain.
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The leaves whisper in the storm, brushing against his wet cotton shirt like cold fingers. The forest provides a thin, wavering cover from the down pour, but the air is still humid.
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Frogs croak, leaping from shallow puddles. A pair of turtles lumber across the path, shells slick with rain. The mud is softer here, carrying the scent of wet bark and moss.
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Metro steps through it, listening to the forest surrounding him. Each breath, a memory. Each step, a meditation of an uncertain future. The forest thins gradually, the canopies break apart until the rain returns downward in full force.
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The trail spills out into an open path.
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— STORMY GRASSLAND TRAIL — TOWARDS ROSE —
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A long stretch of wet, storm-lashed grasslands await him. A narrow dirt trail cuts through the swaying, rain-flattened field, leading towards Rose's Hut in the distance. The world feels endless, washed in grey. He walks alone, soaked, cold, and silent.
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Then he feels it.
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A presence.
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A shadow.
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From the mist ahead, an all black armored kings guard approaches, emerging with a carriage box behind him, wheels grinding through the mud.
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Metro freezes.
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He can't run.
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The terrible knight dismounts, his blackened armor gleaming despite the rain. He smiles — a rocky, sadistic grin carves into a chiseled jaw line. His blonde hair is partly cleaned, his white teeth almost too perfect for his glow. Five guards in the same colors step forward, spears drawn, shields raised. Their formation is tight, defensive — as if Metro could possibly shatter them.
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Cornelius: (voice joyful)
"Metro, son of none, we have a warrant for your arrest."
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He holds out a tied scroll, rain dripping from the parchment.
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"Signed by the head of the providence. Here, look."
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Metro doesn't move. The rain soaks his attire, his hair, his silence.
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"Conspiracy… wow," he looks to the field, and back to a gaze. "Tell me, where did you hide the stash?"
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(Beat)
"How'd you even get away with something like that?"
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His tone is half impressed, half disgusted — Like a noble, watching a clever rat.
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METRO: (quietly)
"I don't know what you mean."
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The Knight nods slowly, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. His eyes close briefly, looking up at the grey sky, then back down again, refreshing eye contact —
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Cornelius: (charming smile)
"Of course you don't."
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