Lord of Perverted Ladies

I didn’t sleep.

Not because I was afraid of what waited outside.

At least, that wasn’t the only reason.

The academy had finally become quiet, and for the first time since everything began, there was nothing forcing me to stay awake. No System notification. No strange voice. No footsteps outside my room. No impossible dreams.

Just silence.

And somehow, silence was harder to deal with.

I spent most of the night sitting beside the window with the black key on the desk in front of me.

It looked ordinary.

A little too ordinary.

No symbols.

No writing.

No strange glow.

Just a piece of metal.

Yet the moment I touched it, I could feel something on the other side of the academy gates.

Not a presence.

A direction.

As if the key knew where it wanted to go.

Around five in the morning, I finally lay down.

I closed my eyes.

For maybe twenty minutes.

Then someone knocked.

I opened my eyes.

"Adrian."

Noah.

I sat up.

"What?"

"Open the door."

I walked over and unlocked it.

Noah stood there holding two cups of coffee.

He looked terrible.

"You look like shit."

"So do you."

"Thanks."

He handed me one of the cups.

"I couldn’t sleep."

"Why?"

He stared at me for a second.

"Because I had a dream."

"What kind?"

"I was standing outside the academy."

I went still.

"What happened?"

"There were thousands of doors."

My grip tightened around the cup.

"Then?"

"I saw you."

"Where?"

"Walking away."

He looked confused.

"I tried to follow you."

"And?"

"The moment I crossed the gates..."

He paused.

"I forgot who I was."

I didn’t say anything.

Noah looked at me.

"That doesn’t sound like a normal dream, does it?"

"No."

"Good."

He sighed.

"I was hoping you’d say yes."

I sat down.

He followed.

For a while, neither of us spoke.

Then Noah looked at the black key on my desk.

"What is that?"

I knew this moment would come.

I could lie.

I could tell him it was nothing.

I could do what everyone had done to me.

But I was tired of secrets.

"Something I need to use."

"Where?"

"Outside."

His expression changed.

"You’re leaving."

"Tomorrow."

"Why?"

"Because there’s something I need to find."

"The person from the hospital?"

I stared at him.

"How do you know?"

He shrugged.

"I listen."

"Apparently better than I thought."

"Apparently."

He looked at the key again.

"Are you coming back?"

I didn’t answer immediately.

"I don’t know."

Noah nodded slowly.

"Okay."

That was it.

No argument.

No dramatic speech.

Just okay.

I looked at him.

"You’re not going to tell me not to?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because you’ve spent this entire time trying to figure out what everyone else wanted."

He stood.

"Maybe it’s time you figured out what you want."

He walked toward the door.

Then stopped.

"One thing."

"What?"

"I’m coming."

"No."

"Yes."

"Noah."

"You already know I’m coming."

"I don’t."

"You do."

I sighed.

"You really are annoying."

"I’ve been told."

He left.

I looked at the black key again.

One problem solved.

Or created.

Probably both.

By eight, the academy was awake.

Classes were running as normal.

The exhibition had ended, and students were already talking about regular assignments.

It was almost absurd.

Yesterday, reality had nearly collapsed.

Today, someone was complaining about an upcoming mathematics test.

Ryan found me outside the cafeteria.

"You’re hiding something."

"No."

"You’re absolutely hiding something."

"I’ve been accused of worse."

He narrowed his eyes.

"You have that look."

"What look?"

"The one you get before something stupid happens."

"I don’t have a look."

"You absolutely have a look."

Daniel walked past.

"He does."

"See?"

"You’re both annoying."

Ryan grinned.

"Where are you going?"

"Nowhere."

"That’s suspicious."

"I have class."

"You skipped class yesterday."

"Yesterday was complicated."

Ryan looked at me for a moment.

Then his expression changed.

"You’re leaving."

I didn’t answer.

His grin disappeared.

"You’re actually leaving."

Daniel had stopped too.

Marcus and Ethan were approaching from behind.

Within seconds, all of them were standing there.

I looked at the four of them.

This was exactly what I didn’t want.

"You weren’t supposed to know."

Ryan folded his arms.

"That’s adorable."

"Ryan."

"No."

He pointed at me.

"You don’t get to disappear after everything we’ve been through."

"We haven’t been through anything."

His expression softened.

"We remember more than you think."

I froze.

"What?"

Daniel spoke quietly.

"Not everything."

"But pieces."

"Dreams."

"Fragments."

"Sometimes we remember things that never happened."

Marcus nodded.

"I remembered the courtyard."

Ethan looked uncomfortable.

"I remembered seeing another version of myself."

Ryan shrugged.

"I remembered you standing in a white room."

I stared at them.

The separation hadn’t erased everything.

It had scattered it.

Like broken glass.

"You shouldn’t come."

Ryan laughed.

"Too late."

Marcus nodded.

"I’m coming."

Ethan sighed.

"Obviously."

Daniel looked at me.

"I don’t particularly want to wander into an impossible dimension."

Ryan smiled.

"But?"

"But I’m coming."

I rubbed my forehead.

"This is going to be a disaster."

"Probably."

We continued walking.

By noon, the five of us had quietly prepared.

No bags packed with weapons.

No dramatic equipment.

Just essentials.

Water.

Food.

Phones.

Flashlights.

First-aid supplies.

Whatever could fit inside a backpack.

It felt strangely ordinary.

Almost like we were going on a trip.

Except our destination didn’t exist.

At sunset, we met at the academy gates.

The First Reader was waiting.

So was Lucien.

The Editor stood beside them.

Noah arrived last.

He looked at the group.

"Everyone?"

Ryan raised his hand.

"Unfortunately."

The First Reader looked at me.

"You understand that once you leave, the academy may not recognize you when you return."

I nodded.

"And you understand that the outside isn’t stable."

"I do."

"And you may not find what you’re looking for."

"I know."

He looked toward the others.

"They don’t have to come."

Ryan shrugged.

"We’re aware."

Marcus stepped forward.

"We’re staying together."

The First Reader looked at me again.

"You could still change your mind."

I looked at the academy.

The buildings.

The courtyard.

The place where everything had begun.

Then I looked beyond the gates.

White.

Endless.

Unknown.

I thought about the person waiting there.

The one who had loved me.

The one who had helped erase me.

The one who had apparently known what I would become.

I thought about the older version of myself.

The child.

The Observer.

The Witness.

All the pieces.

All the lies.

And finally...

I thought about the choice I’d made.

No one else would decide my story.

I inserted the black key into the gate.

It fit perfectly.

The First Reader stepped backward.

"Once you turn it..."

"I know."

The key turned.

Click.

The gates opened.

The white world beyond them moved.

Not like fog.

Like an ocean.

It rolled toward us.

Ryan swallowed.

"That’s... unpleasant."

Ethan nodded.

"Very."

Noah looked at me.

"Ready?"

"No."

"Good."

He smiled.

"Neither am I."

I stepped through.

The moment my foot touched the white ground...

The academy disappeared behind me.

Not physically.

It simply stopped being visible.

I turned.

Nothing.

No gates.

No buildings.

No people.

Only white.

Ryan cursed.

"Please tell me we can still go back."

I looked at the key.

It had turned silver.

"I don’t know."

Marcus looked around.

"Then we keep moving."

We started walking.

The white ground felt solid beneath our feet.

There was no sky.

No sun.

No horizon.

Just endless space.

After several minutes, a sound reached us.

A bell.

Once.

Twice.

Then again.

We stopped.

A road appeared ahead.

It hadn’t been there before.

A real road.

Asphalt.

Streetlights.

Buildings.

Cars.

People.

A normal city.

Noah stared.

"Is that..."

"Yeah."

I nodded.

"The outside world."

We walked toward it.

The closer we got, the more realistic it became.

Traffic lights.

Storefronts.

People carrying bags.

A bus stopping at a station.

A woman talking on her phone.

Everything looked ordinary.

Too ordinary.

Then I noticed the sign above the street.

I stopped.

WELCOME TO ALISSTER.

Ryan looked at me.

"You know this place?"

I nodded slowly.

"I do."

"But..."

I stared at the street.

"This isn’t supposed to be here."

"Why?"

"Because this is my world."

Everyone became silent.

My world.

The place I had lived before the academy.

Before the Story.

Before everything.

The city continued moving around us.

Nobody noticed our arrival.

Nobody stared.

Nobody seemed surprised.

Then a bus passed.

The advertisement on its side caught my attention.

A familiar face.

My face.

A photograph of me.

Underneath it were the words:

MISSING FOR SEVEN YEARS.

I stopped breathing.

Noah walked closer.

"Adrian..."

I couldn’t answer.

The photograph was older.

The man in it looked like me.

But younger.

Normal.

Alive.

The advertisement continued:

LAST SEEN: AUGUST 19, 2019.

My hands began shaking.

That date.

I remembered it.

The day before everything started.

The day I supposedly died.

Except...

If I had disappeared seven years ago...

Then who had been living my life?

The bus disappeared around the corner.

A second vehicle approached.

This one carried a different advertisement.

A black-and-white photograph.

The person from the hospital.

My chest tightened.

Underneath their photograph was a single sentence.

WANTED FOR THE MURDER OF ADRIAN CROSS.

Nobody moved.

Ryan whispered,

"What the hell?"

I stared at the photograph.

Then at the city.

Then at the road stretching ahead.

The person I had spent all this time trying to find...

Had apparently been accused of killing me.

And beneath the advertisement, in letters so small I almost missed them, was one final line.

Authorities believe Adrian Cross was not the first victim.

I looked toward the end of the street.

Someone was standing there.

Watching us.

A familiar face.

The person from the hospital.

They raised one hand.

Not waving.

Pointing.

Behind us.

We turned.

The white world was gone.

The city stretched in every direction.

And somewhere far behind us...

The academy had disappeared completely.

We were outside.

Really outside.

And now there was no way to pretend this was still a story.

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