The mountain was closer than it had seemed.
With every step Nir took toward it, that sensation grew sharper.
A beat.
Then stillness.
Then another beat.
It wasn't coming from the earth alone.
He felt it in his chest as well.
As though something within him were answering an ancient call.
Lyra said:
"Do you feel it?"
Nir answered:
"Ever since we got close to the mountain."
"What is it?"
He kept his eyes fixed on the peak.
"I don't know."
He paused for a moment.
"But I feel like it knows me."
Lyra did not reply.
For she found nothing in that to reassure her.
They continued walking until they reached the base of the mountain trail.
There, everything changed.
The sounds of the town vanished behind them.
There were no birds left.
No insects.
Not even the movement of the wind.
The silence was so thick that the sound of their own footsteps felt alien in the place.
Then Nir found the first sign.
A symbol carved into a massive rock.
A circle with a black dot at its center.
He stopped before it.
He reached out his hand.
And the moment his fingers neared the symbol, the ambient light around it vanished.
Lyra stepped back.
"What happened?"
Nir pulled his hand back.
"It's the same thing."
"What do you mean?"
"This mark knows the void."
He stared at it for a long time.
"Or perhaps... the void knows it."
They resumed their ascent.
After a long distance, a cave entrance appeared among the rocks.
It wasn't natural.
It was carefully carved, flanked on both sides by statues of unknown figures.
Yet the strangest part wasn't the statues.
It was their faces.
All of them were eyeless.
Nir stood before the entrance.
And the moment he approached, the black symbol above it flared to life.
Then the door opened on its own.
Lyra said:
"Are you sure we should go in?"
Nir answered:
"No."
Then he stepped inside.
She followed him.
The cave was deeper than they had anticipated.
There wasn't just a single path.
Instead, numerous corridors branched off in every direction.
And yet...
Nir did not hesitate.
He knew which way to go.
Lyra asked him:
"How do you know?"
"I don't know."
"You say that a lot."
A small smile appeared on Nir's face.
"Because it's the truth."
They pressed on.
Until they reached a vast chamber.
In its center...
Sat a stone chair.
Upon it rested a man.
He did not look old.
Yet his features carried something that could never belong to a human who had lived a normal lifespan.
His hair was white.
His clothes were black.
And his eyes were closed.
He did not move when Nir entered.
Lyra whispered:
"Is he dead?"
The man opened his eyes.
Lyra instantly stepped back.
As for Nir, he remained firm.
The man looked at him.
For a long time.
Then he said:
"You're late."
Nir froze.
"You were expecting me?"
"For a very long time."
"Who are you?"
The man did not answer directly.
Instead, he stood up from his chair.
He approached slowly.
When he stood before Nir, he raised his hand and placed it over Nir's chest.
Nir froze.
He felt no magic.
He felt no threat.
Instead, he felt something else.
Something that made him forget to breathe for a moment.
The man said:
"I thought I would never see you."
Nir asked:
"Why?"
The man raised his eyes to meet his.
Then said:
"Because I was present when you were created."
Silence fell.
Lyra felt the blood drain from her face.
As for Nir...
He did not move.
"Created what?"
The man looked straight into his eyes.
"You."
The word was simple.
Yet its impact was heavier than anything Nir had ever heard before.
"I... was not born?"
"No."
The man paused.
Then said:
"You were manufactured."
Nir felt something crack inside him.
His childhood memories.
His parents.
His home.
The years he had lived.
All of a sudden, they began to look like fragments of a story whose author he had never known.
He said:
"Who made me?"
The man did not answer.
Instead, he pointed to the floor.
A black circle appeared beneath Nir's feet.
And when he looked down...
He saw something.
He saw darkness.
Then he saw himself.
A small child.
Alone.
Surrounded by endless darkness.
Yet there was no one beside him.
No father.
No mother.
No world.
Only a single voice.
A voice resembling his own.
Saying:
"When the time comes... he will return."
Nir stepped back.
The vision flickered out.
He looked at the man.
"What did I just see?"
The man said:
"Your beginning."
"And why did you make me?"
For the first time...
The man's expression shifted.
Sorrow appeared.
A profound sorrow, as though he had carried it for centuries.
He said:
"We did not make you to protect the world."
Then he fell silent.
"Nor did we make you to destroy it."
He stepped closer.
"We made you to be the key."
Nir raised his eyes.
"A key to what?"
The man looked past him, toward the deep darkness at the far end of the chamber.
Then said:
"To the door that lies behind the void."
And at that exact moment...
The pulse came.
Stronger than ever before.
The chamber shook.
The earth fractured.
And from behind the man...
Something colossal opened its eye.
The man said in a low voice:
"It has awakened."
Then he looked at Nir.
"And now... it knows you are here."