When every eye is fixed on you, choose quickly: be seen or disappear in thirty-two seconds.
Sophie adjusted the backpack on her shoulders. She pulled on the straps until Jazz's weight became… bearable.
"We're going."
Outside, the air was heavy, filled with dust and the promise of a storm. The sky pressed down on the city. They walked down to the filming perimeter: metal barriers, black vans lined up in rows, a camera crane swaying like a giant insect. The crowd was already gathering, held back by agents and high-perched drones. And above them… the drones, always there, while people pressed together behind the security lines.
Aria's phone vibrated.
Numa: VOLUNTEER stand. Grab black vests. Say Lila redirected you to the lighting team in Zone B.
"Got it."
The stand was a table under a high-tech canopy. A girl wearing a headset, dark circles reaching almost to her cheeks, handed them two vests without really looking at them.
"Names?"
"Sophie Atlantis, Aria Reyes."
The girl scribbled something down and scanned their badges. The screen turned green.
"Zone B. Follow Yvan, he's right there."
A technician tossed them some equipment.
"With me, and no selfies, okay?"
They entered the discreet flow of technicians. Aria matched Yvan's pace, head lowered and badge clearly visible. Sophie followed. On her back… a faint vibration. Jazz was still there.
On the set, at the center, Lila was rehearsing her openings in her silver jacket, with her reflective smile under the soft light. A perfect fake world. Around her: agents, cameras, drones everywhere. To the right: Zone B, and farther away… the fissure.
Sophie and Aria saw the sign leading to Zone B. From a distance, a pile of equipment was gathered there. The fissure that cracked the concrete was farther ahead, guarded by a wire fence, but with no guard in front of it.
Strange, Aria and Sophie thought. We're almost there, Sophie thought.
The phone vibrated again.
Numa: New controller at the north barrier. Stay close to Yvan.
"Understood."
First checkpoint.
"Lighting!" Yvan called out.
A quick glance, but not at the girls' faces. They passed. At the second checkpoint, the real one, a man looked up.
"You're not on the list."
Aria didn't tremble. She raised her badge with a bored expression.
"We were rerouted by Production."
"By who?"
"Lila."
He took a moment, but the name had its effect. The man sighed.
"OK. Make it quick."
Numa: Window opens in 5 minutes.
Behind the barrier, the fissure was there, very close and very real. The ground vibrated slightly, like a memory of the earthquake. Yvan set down his case.
"Wait here. I'll be back."
He walked away as the phone vibrated again.
Numa: Drone in 4 minutes. Either now… or you wait.
Aria looked at Sophie. Her eyes trembled a little, but she nodded.
"It's now or never."
They sped up and reached the fence in front of the fissure, where the mesh had come loose. Just enough for a hand to slip through. Aria slid her fingers inside, then pulled. The metal groaned, but thankfully the sound was muffled by a burst of applause from the audience as Lila launched the first teaser. The timing was perfect. Sophie went first. The metal cut her ear slightly.
OW…
She stumbled through, swallowing her cry of pain. On the other side, Aria followed, both forearms protected by her braces. Behind them, a drone swept the area, but it was too late. In front of them, the fissure opened its dark, gaping mouth in the concrete. This time, it looked different, larger, or maybe it was them who felt so small in front of that great wall. The wind rushed into the opening with an irregular breath, like breathing from the depths. Around them, the sounds of the set seemed to fade little by little. The technicians' voices, the drones, the crowd's comments… everything felt more distant. Sophie felt her heart speed up. A few hours earlier, she still could have turned back. Now, something was drawing her toward that dark hole. It wasn't curiosity, but certainty, as if a part of her already recognized this passage.
A colder breath drifted from the fissure. Sophie knelt, undid a strap, pulled Jazz out of the backpack, then placed her hand against the wall.
"It's vibrating… but it's holding."
Jazz, almost inaudible:
"Temperature dropping, and no thermal presence."
A damp, mineral smell rose up. A shiver ran down their backs. No bluish light, no butterflies this time — just the smell of wet concrete… and something else, something pleasant, a freshness that almost smelled like crushed mint.
Numa: I can cover you for 2 minutes. After that… it's over.
Aria looked at Sophie.
"We're here, and we cross now!"
The light behind them was shrinking, as if the world were closing. Their steps were swallowed by dust. No sound, just… that strange feeling of already being somewhere else.
"It goes down…" Sophie murmured.
"Unidentified resonance," Jazz answered in a very low voice. "No human signature within five meters."
The noise of the set disappeared completely, as if swallowed. But suddenly, far away, one voice still remained, distorted:
"Did we lose them? I'm so sick of this… more volunteers… quitting before filming!"
Then nothing, and the phone vibrated one last time.
Numa: 30 seconds. I can't do anything more for you.
The fissure was changing. The concrete… wasn't really concrete anymore. It was smoother, almost organic, as if something had melted… then frozen again. Jazz blinked once.
"Magnetic field unstable. Careful with the phone."
Aria pushed the device deeper into her pocket.
We're really passing to the other side…
After two meters, a dark angle, and Jazz slipped in first.
"Clearance, a few more meters."
The fissure wasn't straight. It undulated like a badly healed scar, about seven meters, seven meters… between two worlds.
Then the change was brutal: the air, the smell, humus, sap, wet earth. A freshness completely alive.
"Drone alert," Jazz whispered.
"Kaïssa-S7 models, light optical and thermal sweep."
Aria froze, and Sophie froze too. Through the opening: gigantic trunks, tall ferns. And above them… the drones, slow, regular, and above all, implacable.
"We crossed… but if we go out there, they'll catch us immediately," Sophie breathed.
"We can't stay here," Aria answered. "They're going to come film the fissure when there's absolutely nothing!"
She turned to Jazz.
"Options?"
"Light jamming possible… but insufficient. But—wait… there's a signal."
Jazz froze.
"It's not Numa."
"External signal detected, active video loop… thermal lowered in a microsecond."
"Wow… that's clean."
Aria narrowed her eyes.
"Who's doing that?"
"No idea."
Jazz:
"But it's now."
"You move left, low to the ground. Throw yourselves against the base of the tree."
"Ready?"
Sophie nodded.
"Ready."
"Three… Two… One."
"GO."
They came out, pressed close to the ground, fast and extremely silent. The drone pivoted, looked, and saw nothing. Somewhere… someone had replaced reality with a perfect image, a loop.
"There! Under the roots!"
They dove beneath the giant roots of the tree. Their breath was cut off. Jazz followed them, rolling as quickly and quietly as possible. A few frantic heartbeats, and one deep, breathless gasp.
"We're on the other side…" Aria murmured.
Sophie let out a trembling breath, almost a laugh.
"We made it…"
Just above them… a micro-drone landed on a fern. It observed, then disappeared.
The set area had seen nothing. The public was controlled. The drones were circling in a loop. Neris zoomed in on the north barrier, watching.
"Very good."
One gesture, and one of her micro-drones slipped toward the antenna of the police station. On the screens: nothing, a perfect emptiness.
"Loop armed. Test validated."
Her voice was calm. She closed her case. Her modules, her visual spoof, her encrypted fail-safe, everything was ready. Her badge turned green, Zone A access validated.
She lifted her eyes toward the fissure.
"Segment 3… a few more minutes, then I go through."
The light fragmented over the deep green of the canopy. It was almost unreal.
"We're alone now…" Sophie murmured.
Aria stared at the sky, watching the drones move away.
"Someone helped us!"
Jazz moved ahead close to the ground, shifting into active guidance. They moved forward and disappeared beneath the huge ferns. Behind them, the drones resumed their perfect patrol as if nothing had happened. No one knew, not on the set, not in the city, that they had just crossed the border.
And even less… that they were already walking on a path toward the discovery of true nature, a path that another, then another, then another had opened for themselves too… long before them.
The Guardian Angel: The science of passage is a teaching that allows us to transform ourselves in order to reach a sphere of existence that is lighter, more delicate, and more fluid.
To be continued... 🔥