For several long seconds after the sky split apart, nobody moved.
The storm clouds continued drifting overhead, slowly concealing the crimson fractures once again, but the damage had already been done. Hundreds of people stood frozen in the fortress courtyard, staring upward at a sky that no longer belonged to their world.
Fear spread through the crowd like an invisible plague.
Ayan barely noticed.
His attention remained fixed on the place where the unknown entity had appeared.
No.
Not appeared.
Watched.
The distinction mattered.
The thing beyond the fracture had not crossed into reality. It had remained outside, hidden behind layers of dimensional space.
Yet somehow Ayan knew it had seen him.
The certainty settled deep within his chest.
The bridge inside him pulsed slowly.
Once.
Twice.
Then silence returned.
"Ayan."
Aelira's voice broke his concentration.
He looked away from the sky.
The courtyard had become chaotic.
Guards struggled to calm frightened refugees while whispers spread throughout the gathered crowd. Some claimed they had seen a giant eye beyond the fractures. Others insisted a god had appeared.
Neither explanation felt reassuring.
Lena remained kneeling in the rain-soaked courtyard, her body trembling slightly. The strange symbol on her palm had faded, becoming almost invisible once more.
Aelira helped her stand.
"We're taking her inside."
Ayan nodded.
No one argued.
Whatever Lena represented, she was now the most important lead they possessed.
---
The meeting chamber beneath the fortress had once belonged to a forgotten noble family. A massive stone table dominated the center of the room while ancient maps covered the surrounding walls.
Most of those maps were already outdated.
Entire cities no longer existed.
Entire regions had become uncertain.
Reality itself was changing.
Ayan sat at the far end of the table while Aelira, Elena, and several trusted survivors occupied the remaining seats. Lena sat quietly near the fireplace, wrapped in a thick blanket.
She looked exhausted.
Lost.
Like someone who had awakened in the middle of a nightmare and discovered the nightmare was real.
For nearly an hour, nobody spoke.
The atmosphere felt heavy.
Oppressive.
Finally, Aelira broke the silence.
"Tell us everything you remember."
Lena lowered her gaze.
"I've been trying."
"Try again."
The young woman closed her eyes.
For several moments the only sound came from the crackling fire.
Then she spoke.
"I remember a city."
Everyone leaned forward.
"I remember streets."
Her voice trembled slightly.
"Markets. Houses. Festivals."
A faint smile appeared briefly on her face.
"There was a river running through the center."
Ayan remained silent.
Memories.
Not facts.
Not enough.
Lena continued.
"I remember my family."
Her expression softened.
"My mother baked bread."
"My father worked near the river."
"I had a younger brother."
The smile vanished.
"But every time I try to remember their faces..."
Her hands clenched.
"They disappear."
The room fell silent again.
Ayan exchanged a glance with Aelira.
Reality correction.
It wasn't simply erasing places.
It was erasing people.
History.
Identity.
Entire lives.
Slowly.
Methodically.
Cruelly.
Elena leaned forward.
"Do you remember the city's name?"
Lena immediately shook her head.
"No."
"The kingdom?"
"No."
"The region?"
"No."
The answer remained the same every time.
A blank space.
A hole where information should have existed.
Aelira folded her arms.
"The correction is still active."
Nobody liked hearing that.
Because if the process continued—
Eventually Lena herself might disappear.
Ayan suddenly frowned.
Something about that thought felt wrong.
Very wrong.
He looked toward Lena again.
The bridge stirred faintly.
Not danger.
Recognition.
The same feeling he experienced when standing near dimensional anomalies.
Interesting.
Ayan slowly stood.
Everyone looked toward him.
Without speaking, he walked toward Lena.
The bridge energy beneath his skin began glowing faintly.
Black and crimson lines appeared across his hands.
The room immediately grew tense.
Even Aelira looked surprised.
"What are you doing?"
"I don't know."
It wasn't a reassuring answer.
But it was honest.
Ayan stopped in front of Lena.
The bridge reacted stronger now.
Definitely stronger.
As if something hidden beneath reality was trying to reveal itself.
"Give me your hand."
Lena hesitated.
Then obeyed.
The moment their hands touched—
The world shattered.
---
Ayan found himself standing inside a city.
Not a memory.
Not a vision.
A city.
The transition happened so suddenly that his mind struggled to process it.
One moment he stood inside the fortress.
The next he stood in the middle of a crowded street.
People moved around him.
Merchants shouted from roadside stalls.
Children ran through the market.
The smell of food drifted through the air.
Everything felt real.
Painfully real.
Ayan slowly turned.
The city stretched endlessly in every direction.
Stone buildings.
Wooden houses.
Crowded streets.
A flowing river.
Exactly as Lena described.
Yet something felt wrong.
Terribly wrong.
Nobody noticed him.
Thousands of people walked past without a single glance.
As if he didn't exist.
The bridge pulsed.
Ayan looked upward.
And froze.
The sky above the city was black.
Not night.
Black.
An endless void stretched overhead where the heavens should have been.
No stars.
No clouds.
No sun.
Nothing.
The citizens continued living their lives beneath it.
Completely unaware.
The realization sent a chill down his spine.
They couldn't see it.
Only he could.
Ayan slowly stepped forward.
His instincts screamed.
Every part of him wanted to leave.
Yet curiosity pushed him onward.
The city felt alive.
Too alive.
Almost perfect.
No arguments.
No crime.
No suffering.
Everyone smiled.
Everyone laughed.
Everyone seemed happy.
The artificial perfection felt more disturbing than any monster.
Then he saw it.
A figure standing across the street.
Watching him.
Unlike everyone else, this person could see him.
A tall man dressed entirely in white.
Silver hair.
Pale eyes.
An unfamiliar face.
Yet something about him felt ancient.
Dangerous.
The moment their eyes met, the man smiled.
Not warmly.
Knowingly.
As though he had been expecting this meeting.
Ayan's heartbeat slowed.
The bridge exploded with energy.
Black and crimson light erupted around him.
The smiling man tilted his head slightly.
Then he spoke.
His voice echoed across the entire city.
"At last."
The illusion shattered instantly.
---
Ayan stumbled backward.
Reality snapped back into place.
The meeting chamber reappeared around him.
The fireplace.
The stone table.
The shocked faces.
Everything returned.
Ayan nearly lost his balance.
Aelira caught his shoulder.
"What happened?"
Her voice sounded distant.
Ayan's breathing became uneven.
The vision remained vivid.
Too vivid.
The city.
The people.
The black sky.
The man in white.
He slowly looked toward Lena.
The young woman stared back at him in horror.
Because she had seen it too.
"I remember."
The words escaped her lips like a whisper.
Tears filled her eyes.
"I remember the city."
The room froze.
Elena stood abruptly.
"What?"
Lena's breathing quickened.
"I remember."
More tears appeared.
"The river."
"The market."
"The walls."
"The name."
Hope entered her voice.
Real hope.
"It's called—"
She stopped.
Pain crossed her face instantly.
Blood dripped from her nose.
The room's temperature dropped sharply.
The fireplace flickered.
Then died.
Darkness filled the chamber.
Ayan felt the bridge scream.
Not physically.
Instinctively.
Danger.
For the first time since Sector Seven—
Pure danger.
Something was coming.
Not the Harvesters.
Not the Void.
Something else.
Something older.
A crack appeared in the air above the table.
Everyone froze.
The crack widened slowly.
Silently.
Like reality itself was being pulled apart from the inside.
And from within that darkness—
A pale hand reached through.