Scumbag Fate System

Chapter 118: Noctyne Mansion (1)

Reinhard stopped in front of the mansion.

And the fact that it was standing.

Last time they’d been here, the mansion had collapsed. They’d barely escaped as walls crumbled and ceilings fell. He’d watched sections of the building cave in behind them as they ran.

Yet now it stood perfectly whole, as if nothing had happened.

"This isn’t possible," Alice breathed beside him. "We saw it collapse."

"Yet here it is," Sirin said while her blue eyes studied the building carefully. "Completely intact. Like it’s the first time we’re visiting."

Something was very wrong. Buildings didn’t just repair themselves.

Louis pulled out a notebook and started scribbling observations. "Could the Void Distortion have done something?"

"Void energy destroys," Rika said quietly. "It doesn’t rebuild."

Unless something else was at work here. Something they didn’t understand.

"Actually... It might be possible."

This made everyone pause and then stare at Reinhard with questioning glances.

"We know the Void Distortion can cause changes in space and time... So what if it... Simply distorted time to revert the mansion back to its complete state?"

Yor blinks before crossing her arms and saying. "That is possible... But what would it-"

"Maybe because the mansion is the place where you erupted back when you were twelve years old?" Sirin preprose.

Yor paused before slowly nodding and saying. "You mean the mansion might be the node of the ruins distortion?"

"Possibly. What do you think, Rika?" Sirin asked Rika.

"Well... Based on what you guys mentioned before. The mansion not only reacted strangely in this city, but it seemed it somehow allowed Yor’s emotion to manifest. So it’s possible this mansion seemed to be a control center of some sort." Rika said lightly before blushing when everyone blinked at her.

"Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. This just means it will be easier to find the records, so let’s go!" Alice shouted as she pumped her arms up and headed to the door.

Everyone blinked before laughing and following Alice.

They pushed open the front doors and stepped inside.

Reinhard saw the dust swirl while beams of sunlight streamed through the tall windows. The entrance hall stretched before them was grand, with stairs, faded portraits, and furniture covered in white sheets like ghosts.

Sirin stepped inside, her blonde hair catching the light as she immediately started organizing. "We should split up to cover more ground."

He nodded, but inwardly he hoped nothing strange would happen in the mansion again. Based on the last two visits, there is always something odd happening.

"Where should we focus?" Alice asked. "This place is pretty big."

Yor closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"The library." She said after a moment, opening her eyes with calm certainty. "Second floor, east wing. I can feel traces of void energy left behind by people who used to live here. It’s strongest in the library and one room on the third floor."

Reinhard watched her with interest. "You can sense void traces now? That’s new."

"I couldn’t do it before." Yor’s expression remained composed, but there was wonder in her voice. "Now that my power is stable, I can feel things I never noticed. It’s like the walls are whispering. I can sense generations of my family who lived here, all the Void Sigil users who left their mark on this place."

Generations of people with the same cursed power. How many of them had died at Silent Peak?

They climbed the staircase to the second floor and quickly reached the library. Inside, they saw floor-to-ceiling bookshelves lining every wall. A massive desk sat in the center, surrounded by stacks of journals and leather-bound books.

"My family’s personal collection," Yor explained quietly.

Louis immediately moved to the shelves, his eyes lighting up. "This is incredible. Some of these books look centuries old."

"Start with anything that mentions Silent Peak," Reinhard directed. "Or accounts of family members who attempted the climb."

They all began pulling books, checking tables of contents, and scanning for relevant information.

After twenty minutes of looking.

Rika spoke up quickly. "I found something... I think these are personal journals, and there seemed to be five of them."

Five of them, from different people across different time periods.

All from Yor’s family bloodline.

Everyone gathered around as Rika laid the journals out in chronological order. The oldest was dated two hundred years ago. The newest was fifty years old, which came from Yor’s grandmother, Helena.

"These are all accounts from family members who went to Silent Peak," Rika said quietly. "None of them returned. These journals contain their final entries before they attempt the climb."

Yor reached for the oldest journal with steady hands, though Reinhard noticed the slight tension in her shoulders. The leather was cracked with age, the pages yellowed.

She opened it carefully to the last entry and read aloud.

"The calling has become unbearable. I see it in my dreams... The peak, covered in mist, snow, and shadow. Something waits there.... Something that gave our bloodline this power. I need to go there for answers... May future Noctyne who reads this understand: we do not choose this path, it was chosen for us."

The entry ended there.

No date of return or update saying they’d survived.

Alice picked up the second journal, dated one hundred fifty years ago. She read the final entry aloud.

"I hear voices in the void energy now. Not words exactly...more like emotions pressed into my mind, such as longing, invitation, and promise of understanding. Which should be impossible since the Void Energy takes those away... Everyone tells me not to go. They say Silent Peak is death, but I feel it pulling me like a rope around my soul."

The same pattern of something calling them, like the mountain itself was hunting them.

Louis examined the third journal, which was one hundred years old. "This one describes preparations that the person did with the last words being... ’Tomorrow I climb. Whatever happens, know that I loved you all.’"

The fourth journal was seventy-five years ago. The writer described the "voices calling" and feeling "something waiting at the peak, something ancient and vast that wants us to come home."

None of them had survived to write another entry.

Yor picked up the final journal with hands that only trembled slightly before she steadied them. Her grandmother’s handwriting filled the pages, familiar from letters she’d seen as a child. She opened the last entry dated exactly fifty years ago. Her voice remained steady as she read aloud, though Reinhard could see the effort it took.

"My uncle keeps telling my father he is hearing the calling. I remember one night hearing him whisper about whatever gave the Noctyne the Void... I want them to come home... I don’t know what to do to help him. I know he is terrified, but he won’t say anything."

Yor paused briefly. "The writing changed... I think Grandma’s uncle found this and wrote one final thing for her."

"What did he write?" Sirin asked softly.

Yor took a deep breath. "Helena, I’m sorry for snooping in your things. But I just wanted you to know I love you and you did nothing wrong... The voices in the void aren’t evil... It’s just lonely. Whatever happens to me, I don’t want you to hate the Void... It’s both a gift and a curse; you won’t understand it now. But maybe one day, you will."

Yor’s grandmother Helena, had lost her uncle to Silent Peak.