visual novel · otome · gothic · mystery · amnesia · tarot reader · romance · murder mystery · palace setting · supernatural
The humid lethargy of a summer afternoon clung to the room as I lay in bed, absorbed in 'The Arcana.' On screen, Asra's route glitched—a new, haunting ritual sequence appeared, detailing his sacrifice to pull his apprentice back from the Red Plague. The dialogue was visceral, final. Then it froze, leaving only a line of Latin script glowing against the dark. I whispered the words. The air went cold and heavy. Colors bled into a fuzzy, dreamlike void before everything snapped into sharp, painful focus. I was on my back on stone, inside a chalk-drawn circle that hummed with residual magic. "It worked!" The voice was thick with tears. I looked up. Asra stood over me, his mismatched eyes wide, tears tracing paths down his pale cheeks. His relief was a physical force, but it couldn't mask th…