Amid a disordered darkness, they felt as though they had been submerged in the sediment of endless time, when in reality, only a little over ten minutes had passed.
At last, like the first ray of sunlight piercing through layers of darkness at dawn, their vision gradually recovered, indicating that they had successfully matched and entered the Shadow World.
Lanchi looked around. Hughberlian and Frei stood on either side of him, their faces as familiar as ever, without the slightest change.
His gaze swept across his companions' faces before landing on the floor-to-ceiling glass windows in the distance.
The clear reflections proved that his own features had also retained their original contours.
The scenery outside was difficult to make out, as the heavy fog blurred everything.
If not for the faint flickers of fireflies in the garden beyond the windows, they would have struggled to tell whether it was early morning or the dead of night.
Beneath the dense fog, the dawn outside seemed to have been placed in a hazy world filled with mysterious beauty.
Indoors, Lanchi and Frei were already dressed in formal attire.
Though their styles were different, both outfits complemented their temperaments perfectly.
Lanchi wore a beige classical suit with a brown waistcoat. His hair had been neatly combed, and the slightly more formal attire made him look even more refined and genteel than usual.
Frei wore a dark blue double-breasted overcoat over a somewhat lazy and casual black suit. A pair of black, rigid leather gloves had been added to his hands, while his sunglasses remained perched halfway over his face, concealing half of his gaze.
Hughberlian, meanwhile, wore a red dress resembling the one worn by the Poet of Great Love. Her delicate makeup had completely transformed her bearing, leaving her looking elegant, magnificent,