Chapter Eighteen: The Forged Imperial Edict

In midair, the other Lily’s smile remained unchanged as she looked down. She reached out her right hand toward the Lily crouching hysterically near the edge of the clock face. Her wrist rotated outward, her index finger pressed against her thumb, and when all five fingers turned once more toward the crouched Lily, she flicked her index finger out, pointing straight at her.

"Why... hmm?" The Lily on the ground, who had just been shrieking in a frenzy, suddenly let out a soft moan and slowly stood up.

Lily’s face grew increasingly pale, for she remembered what had just happened to her.

She had suddenly believed that her own legs did not belong to her, that she neither recognized them nor accepted them, convinced beyond doubt that they were foreign objects.

All at once, she was pulled powerfully backward, swept into the herd of horses beneath the platform, and vanished from sight.

In the last flicker of her consciousness, she vaguely saw the other version of herself—the one who had just reached out to her—drift gently down onto the golden platform, confusion spreading across her face. The spot where she landed was precisely where Lily herself had first been standing.

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This was already Camille’s eighteenth lap around the not-so-large platform in just over two minutes.

She simply couldn’t comprehend what was happening before her eyes—why the platform had become an empty expanse, why the train kept circling it again and again, or how Lily could fall off the platform and disappear just like that.

This wasn’t some horror film set!

Camille had considered going back to find Aiden and the others to get help, but she was afraid that if she left, Lily might suddenly reappear, unable to find her and become anxious.

Or perhaps Lily would need her help.

These tangled worries kept Camille pacing in circles, feeling as though whatever she did, a heap of problems would remain unsolved.

Suddenly, a harsh screech of metal on metal sounded from not far away, making Camille’s scalp tingle and her heart race. Panicked, she tried to see what had happened, only to witness the train carriages—originally circling the empty ground—shift into a bizarre new formation, like ribbons anchored at the center, spinning in the wind and forming a slanted, sweeping shape.

Following the strange sweep of carriages with her gaze, Camille finally saw the object Lily had seen earlier: a rod thrust upright in the very center of the empty ground.

“What is that?” Camille felt her mind lagging behind the pace of events.

Before she could examine it further, it was as if an invisible bubble in the air popped—accompanied by a gentle “pop”—and Lily suddenly materialized beside the rod.

—————————————

Camille wondered if she was dreaming... The shock of this scene was no less than the moment she’d realized Lily was missing.

After all, she’d spent over a decade as a firm non-believer.

She watched as Lily stood motionless for a few seconds, then abruptly reached out and grasped the object in the center of the clearing. Camille didn’t even have time to call out—she was certain that touching it was a terrible idea.

A wild gale suddenly swept across the entire platform at Waterloo Station, nearly knocking over even someone as sturdy as Camille. Instinctively, she raised her arms to shield her face. She could hear the carriages nearby sliding under the force of the wind, screeching with the sound of tortured steel.

“It’s over. Let’s go back now.” Lily’s voice suddenly sounded right beside her.

With Lily’s words, the gale abruptly ceased, replaced by a powerful calm.

Camille was still frozen, arms raised in front of her face.

She squinted at Lily by her side, took in the stillness around them, and slowly lowered her arms, feeling both bewildered and afraid.

Before her, the broad circle of the clearing was a chaotic graveyard of carriages—overturned and toppled by the wind—but the very center, where Lily had just stood, remained untouched and empty, except that the strange object Lily had touched was now gone.

“Lily... sis?” Camille tentatively called out.

“Yes, it’s me. Wait just a moment,” Lily replied.

As she spoke, Lily crushed something in her palm with a crisp snap.

Camille heard a strange syllable, unfamiliar and resonant.

Then she saw light and shadow shift in Lily’s hand, revealing a glove—radiant, exquisite, and almost impossible to describe in its beauty.

“???” Camille’s mouth fell open in astonishment.

The glove was adorned with intricate patterns, whether stamped or embroidered she could not say—complex yet elegant. The overall shape of the design resembled a raven, giving the impression of being silently watched.

Each fingertip was specially reinforced, evoking the sense that something should be attached there.

Lily glanced at it a few times, then, trusting her instincts, slipped the glove onto her hand. The moment she did, her vision sharpened, her body moved with newfound grace, and a word appeared in her mind—one from the Summerland tongue, along with its pronunciation.

“Mandate...?” Lily murmured, repeating it softly to herself.

She didn’t know exactly what it meant, but surmised it must be the glove’s name. At the same time, she received a familiar English word: distort.

She guessed that this odd name with its peculiar pronunciation was meant as an explanation—the glove’s power was to alter, to twist.

Examining the glove, Lily found herself with a new question: why were all the things connected to that strange world always inscribed with Summerland’s ancient script?

John’s diary had mentioned seeing those same characters rising from the earth, and now, counting the glove she’d just obtained, she had encountered them three times. Every odd syllable she heard resembled the pronunciation of those characters, though she’d never truly understood what they meant...

“Was it because I fell off the platform that I entered that world again? And why could I move so swiftly through this fogless area?”

Just as Lily considered making her way out of the bizarre heap of carriages to find Camille, she suddenly found herself moving—at a speed she could barely comprehend—arriving at Camille’s side in an instant.

It was an indescribable sensation, but Lily thought that if she practiced, she could master this way of moving.

“Camille, I’m fine. Sorry for worrying you.”

“More importantly, you didn’t experience anything strange, did you?” After quickly checking off her own concerns, Lily turned her attention to Camille’s well-being.

Camille was not like her—she had already glimpsed the ‘other side’ of this world, but this was Camille’s very first encounter with such inexplicable things.