I went to the backyard of Grace’s house to burn the dead bodies with fire magic. I set Philip’s body aside so Grace could have his ashes for the urn. As I watched the bodies go up in flames, my eyes stayed cold and emotionless. I wasn’t feeling any sympathy for them. As far as I was concerned, they were scum who deserved to die.
Once Philip’s body was fully burned, I poured his ashes into a jar. Then, I went to Grace’s room. She was still fast asleep, with Hana peacefully dozing in her crib. I had no idea how to break the news to her. She had just seen people literally blowing their heads apart right in front of her. Even I had been shocked the first time I saw something like that.
While they were both sleeping, I took the time to clean up the bloody mess in the room. There was so much blood that the whole place was practically painted red. As I scrubbed the floor, something caught my attention—a gap in the boards. It looked like there was a hidden door, a trapdoor leading to a basement. I paused for a moment before lifting it open. Sure enough, it led down to a dark basement.
The place looked like it hadn’t seen light in ages. No candles, no lamps, nothing. Philip or Grace must’ve used magic to light the place up when they were down here. Cobwebs covered the walls, which told me they hadn’t bothered cleaning it in forever. I stepped down into the basement, lighting the way with a small flame in my hand. There wasn’t much here, except for a study table sitting in the corner. Who it belonged to, I was about to find out.
I walked over to the table, my steps slow and deliberate, and glanced at the book lying on top. The air was still, almost suffocating, as I reached for it, my fingers brushing the worn cover. There was nothing special—just a basic notebook, the kind you could get from wandering merchants. As I scanned, something small and thin slipped out and fluttered onto the table.
“Hm?”
I bent down, picking it up between my fingers, realizing it was a photo. In a place like this, something as modern as a photograph shouldn’t exist, but ever since Leonamon introduced their advancements, even capturing moments like this had become easy. I stared at the image, the dim light of the torches in the background illuminating figures draped in hooded cloaks, their faces hidden in shadow. The flames flickered ominously, casting long shadows.
“So, this is the Eclipse…”
It had to be their headquarters, or maybe one of the many places they operated from. But as my eyes traced the figures, something stopped me cold.
“Huh?”
One of them… I knew that silhouette. My chest tightened, and I squinted at the photo. It couldn’t be… could it? The person’s hood was drawn over their face, but just as the photo was taken, they turned slightly, catching the light. It was enough to make out some faint details—enough to give me that sinking feeling in my gut. The hair, the way they stood… it felt too familiar.
No, this couldn’t be the person I thought it was… right?
It was then that something else caught my eye. There was a faint marking on the back of the photo, like someone had scrawled something in a rush. My fingers trembled slightly as I turned it over, squinting at the words in the dim light.
“This might be the last time. I’m sorry, Grace and Hana.”
That single sentence hit harder than I expected. My chest tightened, and for a split second, I felt a pang of something—maybe guilt, maybe understanding. So, Philip wasn’t just a heartless bastard. He’d been caught up in the Eclipse, manipulated like a pawn. The bitter taste in my mouth grew. Maybe… maybe he wasn’t as much of a scumbag as I thought.
But then, I turned back to the book in my hands. The first line jumped off the page, practically smacking me in the face.
“I have a sin to confess. I cheated on my pregnant wife.”
Yeah, I take that shit back. He was a scumbag.
I kept reading, my grip tightening on the edges of the book as the words continued to unfold like a slow, sickening revelation.
“This guilt… it’s something I’ll carry to my grave. But the woman I cheated with… she’s part of an organization known as the Eclipse. They worship an ancient dragon—one of the beings who created worlds. At first, I didn’t care. The woman I was fucking behind Grace’s back was like a sweet, forbidden angel. She gave me the kind of comfort I couldn’t find with my wife. That was all it took to turn my heart, to make me betray the woman who was carrying my child.”
It looked like the start of a diary—Philip’s diary, detailing his dirty affair with some woman other than Grace. I wasn’t planning on giving a shit, but something about it pulled me in. The fact that the woman he was screwing around with belonged to the Eclipse… that got my attention. Something about this whole thing just felt off, so I kept reading.
“I told her I’d join in whatever organization she was involved with. It seemed harmless at first, like a regular church, just a place to pray. But it wasn’t anything pure like that. People were wearing hoods, chanting praises to a Lord I’d never even heard of. At first, I was skeptical. Was the woman I was fucking around with really tied up in this lunatic shit? I couldn’t believe it. She was an angel.”
“Maybe I was blinded. The woman I fell for… deep down, I knew it was too good to be true. She was lying to me the whole time. I found out the real reason she came to me—it wasn’t love. She needed something from me. An artifact, one that supposedly had the power to leap between worlds. It was said that humans once used it to summon Jeanne into this world to fight off the demons. Apparently, my ancestor was the one who hid it—under the very house me and Grace live in. But I had no clue where it was, and I was sure I’d never find it.”
“I wanted out of the cult. I was done. I saw her… the woman I thought I loved… having a three-way with two other men, right in front of me. She didn’t give a damn, didn’t even try to hide it. I didn’t feel despair, though. I felt guilt. Guilt for cheating on Grace. But by the time I realized how deep I was in… it was too late. I already belonged to them.”
