His choice - I

"This is my choice..."

Clank

The doorknob that he held within his palm never turned, but the sound was clear. The man gritted his teeth while pushing his left hand forward.

Tsrrk tsssrkk

The sparks flew burning at the woods of the black door in a slanting horizontal line. The blue blade cut the door into two uneven halves.

[YOU DARE TO-!]

"And whose fault is it?"

Jaden stood firm in his choice with no shred of hesitation in his eyes. No matter how furiously the being responsible for those words responded, Jaden showed no reaction.

"You were the one who said to leave it all to my luck. If so, I don't need it..."

Luck? Fate? Those terms, for Jaden, who had lived a lonely life for a long time, were nothing but a curse. Something he detested deep to his core.

The moment he read that those words weren't able to tell him what actually happened to Aliana, the last thread of patience broke off. Surely, that person might've had their reasons to act like that, but that wasn't Jaden's concern.

After all, he was dragged into that world without his wish. All the more reason for Jaden to act that way. The faint smile expanded to become a grin.

"So..."

Swish

The blade that cut through the black door didn't stop and moved to the white door beside it at an unimaginable speed. The golden sparks wrapped themselves around Jaden's body as if trying to stop him.

But it was all futile. Like a knife spreading butter on bread, Frozen Rose slid from between the woods. The slight vibrations spreading through his body went unnoticed, thanks to all the adrenaline pumping up.

"Get lost, you damned b*stard."

Tsrrrrk tsrrrk

The two doors turned into grey ash in spite of not being burned down. The five senses of Jaden's body went numb the very next second.

The surroundings, which were bright white just a moment ago, had turned pitch-black. The surface beneath his feet, on which he was standing, wasn't present there either.

Jaden simply floated in the air while trying to get a grasp of that situation. It was obvious that what was happening was all because he cut apart the doors.

He was able to see his own body as the vision that had become blurry was cleared out. The warm sensation just above his lips made him brush his palm across it.

His eyes widened at the sight of the red liquid spread on the back of his hand. The blood was flowing out of his nose. Did he end up pushing himself too hard?

'No... Was that a mistake?'

[Now you have done it...]

Soon, he found himself reading those words again. That wasn't the outcome he was expecting. The faint sparks moved around the water droplets as a new sentence formed.

[You are to blame for whatever might happen. Don't regret it.]

Just what kind of mess had Jaden gotten himself into? If he had chosen one out of those two doors, would the results be any different?

He shook his head sideways vigorously. That wasn't the time to be thinking about those things. What happened happened. Thinking about it would've done him no good.

Shrk

The water droplets were no longer visible after that soft sound. The sparks around the droplets collapsed them into thin air. Jaden bit his lips before yelling out loud.

"WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW?!"

He had no clue as to how he could escape that place. What if he was trapped there forever? That question began haunting him from within.

How much time passed by after that? Jaden had no idea about it. He was simply floating for an indefinite period of time. That was only until he heard a sound.

Swish

Some tiny particles moved in front of him. His eyes watched it move closely, with no particular interest displayed in them. He was simply staring at the ash gathering at one spot.

The grey colour remained unchanged throughout the process. It slowly gathered into a thin, tall layer. At that moment, Jaden's eyes wavered.

Tsrrk tssrrk

Again, those sparks, which had faded away, were swirling around the grey ashes. The surface that looked rough and unpolished slowly became smooth.

Huh?

"A grey..."

A grey door was floating before Jaden. The only difference this time was that, instead of the water droplets, the golden sparks of the lightning were carving the words on the door.

[■□ Records]

Jaden could feel a creepy sensation run down his spine. As if that wasn't enough, the words that the water droplets made for the last time before vanishing flashed in his mind.

-[You are to blame for whatever might happen. Don't regret it.]

"This looks... ominous."

------------------------

The reason why a door would appear out of ashes was still unclear to the man. The goosebumps he was feeling all over his body had him stay in his spot.

Seeing the words carved on the door, it was safe to assume a few things. One, that door was some kind of combination of the previous two doors.

Two, that was definitely the outcome of the rash actions Jaden took. If he had just chosen one out of the two doors, he might've gotten through everything more easily.

The third possibility was that the contents behind the door might've been messed up due to physical harm. After all, Jaden had cut apart the door without thinking reasonably.

Not that it was going in his favour. Jaden only considered cutting apart the doors a good choice in such a bothersome situation. He took a long breath.

Fuh-

"Guess there's no helping it..."

The nervousness he was feeling vanished within a split second when he let out his long breath. The thing he was supposed to do in that situation became obvious.

'I hope it's nothing bad.'

With that thought on his mind, Jaden grabbed the doorknob. The cold sweat ran down his back as he slowly turned the knob around to open it.

Clink

Unlike before, Jaden had no sword in his hands. Even if he had one, he would've thought twice before acting rashly, as he was quite taken aback.

As the door opened, a white light began sipping out of the edges of the door. Soon, it engulfed Jaden's whole vision without missing a moment.

He rubbed his eyes gently, trying to take a look at the situation. The moment everything became clear to him, his pupils enlarged from the shock.

Tsrrrkk

The red words in front of him managed to attract his eyes within a second. His lips gapped as he swallowed the stuffy feeling along with his own saliva.

[□ Records: 1/2]

Those words were washed away in a blink of an eye, as if they never existed. Jaden barely managed to perceive them, thanks to his good senses.

'Come to think of it...'

The senses he wasn't able to feel during his time in the black space had become all too well as soon as he opened the door. Sadly, that thought was stopped by another sound.

-"Day 'X', Month 5, Year 278"

Someone was speaking. Jaden stood in the dark corner where he could barely see his feet under the dim light of the lantern on the table near him.

'A hut?'

The run-down place looked as if it hadn't been managed properly. Jaden helplessly waited for the next words, frozen in his spot again. It wasn't like he could've moved an inch from there.

-"The notion that 'Deities' created the world was totally wrong. It wasn't the 'Deities' but □ who is responsible for everything's existence."

The confusion flushed into Jaden's face. He was missing a lot of context. And all he could do was listen to whatever the voice said.

Some of the words he heard weren't clearly audible. It was something akin to what happens when someone tries to play a cassette with scratches on a certain part of its tape.

'Is this because I destroyed the doors?'

That was the result of destroying the doors. The last bits of ashes that were left behind merged together to form the door. Hence, the parts that were damaged when Jaden cut the doors apart remained empty.

Baamm

The man slammed his palms on the worn-out table violently, with drops of water raining on the yellow page. His face was unclear.

-"Will things even be okay if we trust 'them'?"

Tsrrk

[□ Records 2/2]

Before Jaden could realise it, the scene around him changed again. He spun around in the direction the red sparks flew in to witness quite an odd scene.

The surroundings were neither black nor white; they had turned all red. Wherever he glanced, there was nothing but rubble around him.

'This place is...?'

Crackle

Where was this place? The sounds of the fire burning down the crisps of everything within the vicinity were clear.

A cold shiver ran down his body upon hearing a raspy voice out of nowhere.

-" Day 'X', Month 10, Year 318"

Jaden's gaze shifted towards the source of the sound. The man sat on the ground with his wounded body supported against a huge piece of rubble.

The diary in his hands was where the sound was originating from. As much as Jaden wanted to approach it, his body wouldn't move past that spot.

-"□ was correct. We should've never trusted 'them'. Everything was a mistake."