The world shifted.

  Not like the Pawn Shops, where reality bent under the weight of Lies.

  This was different.

  It didn’t feel like something was being rewritten.

  It felt like something was being revealed.

  Like the temple had always been here—waiting.

  Elias felt the breath catch in his throat, almost gaining an enlightenment.

  Sera remained still.

  She wasn’t just looking at the temple.

  She was watching Something unfolding.

  Then—

  The stone at the temple’s entrance moved.

  Not physically. Not the way doors opened.

  Itwaa simply there one moment—

  And the next, it was.... Passage,

  Elias swallowed. “That’s—” He exhaled.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Sera’s voice was quiet, she finally understood the power in Play. “It’s trickery.”

  Elias mumbled, in thought “so that's why it felt similar, but isn't it just lie?”

  Sera turned to him, shaking her head. “No. It’s not.”

  —

  Trickery wasn’t a Lie or an outright lie

  You can say lies tries to reality. And if believed it does

  Trickery played with it, waiting for a moment to be unveiled.

  A Lie replaced truth. It made something that wasn’t real into something that was.

  But trickery?

  Trickery didn’t change what was real.

  It changed how you saw it.

  It made you look in the wrong place. It made you believe something was there when it wasn’t—without ever breaking the rules.

  A Lie forced reality to shift.

  Trickery simply made you forget to question it.

  And that was what this temple was doing.

  It hadn’t been hidden behind a Lie.

  It had always been there.

  The world had just been looking in the wrong place.

  —

  Elias let that sink in.

  “So,” he muttered, now understanding. “Dolos doesn’t work like the Pawn Shops.”

  Sera nodded. “No. But they are similar in any ways "

  Elias exhaled. “that’s why this place felt different.”

  Sera’s gaze flickered toward the passage.

  “It’s an invitation,” she murmured.

  Elias rubbed the back of his neck. “An invitation to what, exactly?”

  Sera was silent for a moment.

  Then, as she stepped forward, she finally had an answer.

  Tro his world, to meet him.”

  The moment they stepped into the passage

  The space stretched, rearranged itself, like a painting being reinterpreted by the mind of the observer.

  The temple had already felt too small from the outside.

  But now—

  Now it wasn’t just big.

  It was somewhere else entirely.

  Elias sucked in a sharp breath. “Okay. I hate this.”

  Sera wasn’t listening.

  Her eyes observed the world with interest

  “The Pawn Shops shape reality by changing its foundation,” she murmured. “But this… this is different.”

  Elias glanced at her. “How?”

  Sera hesitated.

  Then—

  “Because we never actually left your world.”

  Elias’s mind churned. “What?”

  Sera exhaled. “We’re still in the same place. But our perception of it has changed.”

  Rather this was still the same world, just an extension made by dolos to keep is power and existence a float, containing people who believe in him.

  Their understanding of where they were had shifted.

  This wasn’t a different place.

  It was the same world, seen through different eyes.

  Elias let out a shaky laugh. “I don’t know if that’s better or worse.”

  Sera smirked slightly

  Elias scowled. “That’s not comforting."

  “Come on,” she said. “Dolos wouldn’t have invited unless he wanted something.”

  Elias sighed, rubbing his temples. “Oh great. Another powerful entity with an agenda.”

  But even as he grumbled, he followed her.

  Because he didn't want to be a pawn

  And this time—he won't just be played around with

  Dolos was is whetstone