Dickson looked up at the sky for a long while before speaking again.

"Besides..." he said quietly, the usual joking tone absent from his voice for once. "I kind of like being this way."

Liam turned his head slightly to look at him.

"Being what way?"

Dickson let out a small chuckle as he folded both hands beneath his head and stared at the endless morning sky above them. The clouds drifted lazily overhead while the rising sun slowly painted the world in warmer shades of gold and orange.

"This."

He shrugged.

"Being the idiot. The screw-up. The dumb guy everyone laughs at."

Liam raised an eyebrow.

Dickson smiled faintly.

"When people expect greatness from you, every mistake becomes a disappointment. Every failure becomes a burden. Every weakness becomes something you have to hide because people are counting on you." He paused for a few seconds before continuing. "But when everyone already expects you to fail... there’s freedom in that."

Liam said nothing.

Dickson laughed softly.

"They already think I’m an idiot anyway. If I screw up, they just say, ’Yep, that’s Dickson.’ If I somehow manage to do something right..." he grinned. "Then it becomes a pleasant surprise."

Liam stared at him for several moments before slowly walking over and sitting down beside him.

The cold mountain wind brushed against their clothes while the peak remained silent around them.

Then Liam leaned backward until he was lying flat on the rocky surface.

After a brief hesitation, Dickson adjusted himself.

The two friends simply lay there side by side.

"...You know," Liam suddenly said.

"Hmm?"

"I’m leaving soon."

Dickson’s relaxed expression faltered immediately.

He turned his head.

The tone.

It wasn’t casual.

It wasn’t joking.

There was weight behind those words.

The kind that made people instinctively pay attention.

"...Leaving?" Dickson repeated. "Where?"

Liam remained quiet.

The mountain breeze blew past them.

Above them, birds flew across the endless sky.

Mary’s solemn warning resurfaced in his mind.

Do not breathe a word of what we discussed to another person.

He could still remember her serious expression.

The danger.

The uncertainty.

The possibility of never returning.

His eyes remained fixed on the heavens above.

Another person.

The phrase itself felt ridiculous.

Since when was Dickson another person?

Since when had his best friend become someone he couldn’t trust?

Liam let out a quiet breath.

Apparently...

He had already made his decision.

"I’m going with Irina and a few others..." he finally said. "To another world."

Dickson blinked.

"...What?"

Liam didn’t laugh.

Didn’t smile.

Didn’t say he was joking.

"...Another world."

Dickson sat up halfway.

"Huh?"

His voice cracked slightly.

The strange seriousness in Liam’s expression slowly erased any suspicion that this was some elaborate prank.

"...You’re serious?"

"Yeah."

Dickson stared at him.

"You sound like you’ll be gone for a long time."

Liam placed one hand against his chest while continuing to look upward.

"Yeah," he answered quietly. "I don’t know how long I’ll be gone."

For once...

Dickson didn’t make a joke.

He simply sat there.

"...If I may ask..." he said after several moments. "Where exactly are you going... and why?"

Liam rubbed the back of his head.

"According to Mary..." he began slowly, "...it’s a world full of magic."

Dickson frowned.

"A world full of magic?"

"Yeah."

Liam nodded.

"Dangers. Strange people. Different races probably." He shrugged. "Honestly, I don’t know much about it myself. But apparently, we’re searching for a way to end this war."

Dickson lowered himself back onto the mountain.

His eyes remained on the sky.

"The vampire war?"

"Mm."

Silence settled between them briefly.

Then...

Dickson smiled.

"And how exactly are you so sure the answers you’re looking for are in this magical world?"

Liam chuckled softly.

"Apparently, the witches saw a prophecy."

"A prophecy."

"Yeah."

Liam turned toward him.

"They believe the only way to defeat that old monster is by going there."

Dickson nodded slowly.

The old monster.

The Ancient One.

The first vampire.

Even hearing about it secondhand made his skin crawl.

The mountain grew quiet again.

After a while, Dickson spoke.

"On a scale of one to ten..."

Liam looked at him.

"...How dangerous is this place?"

Liam genuinely pondered the question.

His brows furrowed slightly.

He replayed Mary’s expression.

The warning.

The fear hidden beneath her calm voice.

The fact that even witches who had dedicated their entire lives to studying magic seemed uneasy.

Then he finally answered.

"I think..." Liam said slowly.

"...It breaks the scale."

Dickson blinked.

"...Seriously?"

Liam nodded.

"According to Mary..." his voice softened slightly, "...we might not return."

The wind swept across the mountain peak.

Dickson stared upward.

Then suddenly...

He chuckled.

"You actually believe that?"

Liam froze.

Then...

He burst into laughter.

"Hahahaha!"

The sound echoed across the mountain.

His laughter became louder.

He wiped at the corner of his eyes before looking toward Dickson.

"What can kill me..." Liam said confidently, "...isn’t under the heavens."

There wasn’t even arrogance in his tone.

Just absolute certainty.

Dickson looked at him for several seconds.

Then smiled.

"...That’s the Liam I know."

He folded his arms behind his head once more.

"You know..."

"I heard about your fight with Alexander."

Liam’s laughter gradually faded.

Dickson’s smile disappeared.

"...To think that monster only fought using twenty-five percent of his actual strength."

Liam remained silent.

Twenty-five percent.

He remembered the overwhelming power.

The pressure.

The destruction.

The fact that Alexander had looked more disappointed than exhausted by the end of it.

Dickson slowly exhaled.

"Imagine that."

He closed his eyes briefly.

"Imagine how strong the thing they wanted to wake up must be."

His voice grew quieter.

"Alexander alone nearly destroyed everything around him."

He turned his head toward Liam.

"If twenty-five percent of his power was enough to make monsters look ordinary..." he paused before finishing softly, "...what kind of nightmare are we talking about when it comes to the Ancient One?"

The morning sun finally rose completely over the horizon.

Golden light washed over the mountaintop.

The two friends lay side by side beneath the vast sky, both staring upward while contemplating the terrifying future waiting ahead of them.

One month.

Thirty days.

Then Liam would leave this world behind.

To another galaxy.

Another world.

A place that supposedly held the answers to ending a war that had already consumed countless lives.

A place so dangerous that even witches capable of seeing fragments of destiny had warned them they might never come back.

Yet strangely...

Neither of them looked afraid.

Dickson eventually let out a long breath before nudging Liam lightly with his shoulder.

"...Just don’t die."

Liam didn’t even hesitate.

"I won’t."

His answer came instantly.

Certain.

Firm.

As though death itself was simply another obstacle waiting to be punched in the face.

Dickson smiled helplessly.

"...Yeah."

He looked toward the endless horizon glowing beneath the morning sun.

"For some reason..."

"I believe you."

The smile on his face softened as his thoughts drifted back to the conversation that had started all of this in the first place.

Eventually, he spoke.

"Dickson."

"Hmm?"

Liam’s voice lost its teasing tone and became solemn.

"When I leave... I want you to look after everyone."

Dickson turned his head toward him immediately.

The smile lingering on his face disappeared.

He understood instantly what Liam meant.

This wasn’t about jokes.

It wasn’t about flying.

It wasn’t even about the adventure waiting ahead.

This was Liam entrusting the people he cared about most to him.

Dickson didn’t answer immediately.

He looked out toward the mountains stretching endlessly beneath the morning sky before finally nodding.

"Of course."

His reply came without hesitation.

"None of them will get hurt."

He looked Liam directly in the eye.

"I promise you."

There wasn’t even a hint of playfulness in his expression anymore.

Just sincerity.

"I’ll protect them."

Liam stared at him for several seconds before smiling softly.

The tension in his shoulders eased.

Then Dickson ruined the emotional moment almost immediately.

"...My promise doesn’t extend to Lilith though."

Liam blinked.

Dickson folded his arms and scoffed loudly.

"I want absolutely nothing to do with that bitch."

"..."

"She’s an adult. I’m sure she can take care of her damn self."

"..."

"If anything happens to her, she’ll probably be the one causing it."

Liam couldn’t stop himself.

He burst out laughing.

Dickson looked offended.

"What?"

"You called my girlfriend a bitch with a straight face."

"Because she is!"

Dickson pointed accusingly.

"Do you have any idea what that woman did to me? Look at my neck!"

He touched the fading bruises dramatically.

"I saw death, Liam."

"You’ll live."

"I met my ancestors."

Liam laughed harder.

Dickson clicked his tongue.

"You think this is funny because you’re sleeping with her."

Liam eventually regained control of himself.

"Don’t worry about Lilith."

Dickson narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"I’ll talk to her."

"...Talk?"

"Yeah."

"You mean kiss her until she forgets I exist?"

Liam smiled.

"If it works, it works."

Dickson looked genuinely betrayed.

"You bastard."

Liam laughed as he patted him.