I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

The cartridge case was opened a crack.

All eyes were on that crack.

There was no dazzling light, no hymns, and not even any extraordinary signs.

The box lay there quietly, like an open clam.

The researcher used his white-gloved hands to take the crown out of the box.

It was a crown made of withered yellow willow branches, the branches were dry and cracked, and some were broken off, barely held together with thin hemp rope.

If it weren't for being stored in a lead box, anyone would think it was some country kid casually making up some junk.

"Who wants to go first?" The researcher asked, holding up his crown and scanning the crowd.

The room fell silent for a moment.

Anna stood up from the corner, her silvery-white hair gleaming softly in the candlelight.

She closed the Bible, held it to her chest, and walked up to the researcher.

"I'll go first." Her voice was soft but firm. "If anything unexpected happens, you can still help me."

Alex opened his mouth as if to say something, but Anna shook her head at him.

"You are the hero, and your judgment is of utmost importance. If anything goes wrong because of the use of the crown, the entire plan will be affected. Besides, I am a member of the church, and it is my duty to be the first to arrive."

Alex paused for a moment, then nodded.

Anna handed the holy book to Bruno beside her, took a deep breath, and reached out to take the crown made of withered branches.

The moment her fingers touched the willow branches, the withered and cracked branches seemed to be infused with life, becoming soft and verdant at a speed visible to the naked eye. Tender buds sprouted from the nodes and unfolded into fresh green leaves.

The crown came to life in her hands.

Anna gently placed the crown on her head.

Her body stiffened abruptly, as if struck from the inside by something.

His silver-white hair moved without wind, his pupils contracted sharply, and fine golden lines appeared in the whites of his eyes. These lines spread outwards from the edges of his pupils like tree roots, filling his entire eye socket.

Her lips were trembling, as if she were trying to say something, but no sound came out.

Alex stepped forward, but was stopped by the researcher's outstretched hand.

"Don't touch her, she's 'watching'."

That state lasted for about ten seconds.

Anna's body suddenly went limp, and the crown slipped off her head, returning to its withered and cracked state the instant it hit the ground.

Bruno reacted quickly, catching the crown with one hand and supporting the swaying Anna with the other.

Her face was as pale as paper, fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, and silvery-white hair clung to her cheeks.

"What did you see?" Alex helped her sit down and handed her a glass of water.

Anna took the water glass, her hands trembling so much she could barely hold it.

She took a sip, choked, and coughed several times before she recovered.

"Human soldiers..." Her voice was hoarse, as if she had been submerged in water for a long time before being pulled out, "scattering and fleeing, as if... hiding from something."

"Avoiding what?" Mason leaned closer.

"I don't know." Anna closed her eyes, her brow furrowed, as if trying to recall the scene. "There was nothing around. No monsters, no enemies, nothing... anything at all. They seemed to be hiding from something unseen."

She paused, her voice softening, "Some people were running when they suddenly collapsed, wailing in pain."

The room fell silent for a moment.

Mason took the crown from Bruno and weighed it in his hand. "My turn."

"Mason—" Alex tried to stop him.

"Don't worry, I'm tough." Mason waved his hand and put the crown on his head.

The willow branches have come back to life, and the emerald green leaves are unfurling in the candlelight.

Mason reacted more violently than Anna—her body jerked backward, her staff slipped from her hand and crashed to the floor with a thud.

Her eyes were wide open, and her pupils reflected a vision that only she could see.

Ten seconds later, she ripped off the crown and gasped for breath, as if she had just been pulled out of the water.

The crown fell to the ground, returning to its withered state.

"What did you see?" Alex asked.

Mason leaned on the table to stand up, clutching his chest, his heart pounding faster than on a battlefield.

"Demon soldiers." Her voice was ethereal. "Scattered and fled, hiding from something. There was nothing around. They ran and then collapsed, just like Anna saw."

She looked up, and for the first time, something akin to fear appeared in her fiery red eyes.

"Humans are fleeing, and demons are fleeing. They are hiding from the same thing—but we can't see what it is."

Bruno scratched his head. "Could it be a plague? Or a curse?"

"I don't know." Mason shook his head. "But that scene... it was so strange, like sleepwalking."

Alex shook his head, picked up the crown from the ground, brushed off the dust, and gently put it on his head.

The willow branches are full of life, and the emerald green leaves stretch out among his golden hair.

Golden lines appeared in his pupils, denser and brighter than those in Anna and Mason's—as if a golden flame was burning in his eye sockets.

This time, it took even longer.

Fifteen seconds.

The researcher raised an eyebrow slightly, feeling that the warrior's mental endurance threshold was far beyond that of ordinary people.

Twenty seconds.

Alex's forehead veins bulged, and his hands gripped the edge of the table so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

His breathing became rapid, as if something was pressing on his chest.

Twenty-five seconds.

He abruptly removed his crown, panting heavily as if emerging from the water.

The crown fell to the ground, and the flourishing branches withered once more.

"What did you see?" Mason asked eagerly.

"The soldiers of both races... stood frozen in place." Alex said incredulously, his voice hoarse. "No one ran, no one fell, they just stood there, motionless. As if they were frozen in place by something."

Anna paused for a moment: "Not running? Not hiding?"

“No.” Alex shook his head. “They were standing, weapons in hand, looking ahead—but their eyes were empty. Like shells whose souls had been ripped out.”

No one speaks.

They tried to piece together a complete future from these three starkly different scenes—humans running, demons running, and both races standing still. The same war, three different outcomes. Who was right? Or were they all wrong? Or none of them?

"The Sage's Crown does not represent a fixed destiny, but rather one of countless timelines." The researcher's voice came from behind, calm as if reciting a textbook. "Each person can only see one possibility, and each possibility truly exists, and each may never happen."

He bent down, picked up the crown from the ground with his white gloves, brushed the dust off the broken branch, and carefully put it back into the black box.

"So don't try to find the 'right answer' in it. The crown won't give you the answer, it will only give you more questions."

He closed the box, and the lock clicked shut.

"Gentlemen, if there's nothing else, I'll head back now."

"Wait a minute," Alex called after him. "What else did the Patriarch say?"

The researcher stopped walking, but did not turn around.

The Patriarch said, "If the future you see is not what you want, do not despair. For the future is the future precisely because it can be changed."

He walked out of the room, his footsteps fading into the distance in the corridor, like a pebble thrown into a deep pool, ripples spreading outwards before finally returning to silence.

Mason lay sprawled on the table, chin resting on his arm, his long, fiery red hair spread out.

"So... what exactly did we see? Humans running, demons running, and then they stood still? What kind of prophecy is this?"

"Perhaps it's not 'then'," Anna said softly. "Perhaps there are three different possibilities. What each of us sees are different outcomes resulting from different choices."

Bruno scratched his head: "Then which one is real?"

"It's all true, and it's all false." Alex walked to the window, gazing at the torches on the distant city walls. "The future isn't a road, it's a field. Whichever direction you go, that's the scenery you'll see."

Sensing the somewhat tense atmosphere, the hero Alex turned around, a slight smile playing on his lips, and said in a deliberately relaxed tone:

"Since things have come to this, let's eat first, and also bring some food for Legolas. We're all starving after a long day."