The moment Edrin stepped off the line—
Everything disappeared.
No ground.
No path.
No support.
Just—
Nothing.
"…Yep," he muttered as he dropped. "…still hate this."
Ronan's voice echoed faintly behind him.
"Told you!"
"NOT HELPFUL—!"
The fall wasn't fast.
But it wasn't slow either.
There was no wind.
No direction.
No sense of distance.
Just—
Falling.
Edrin clenched his teeth.
"…Okay."
A breath.
"…Think."
No ground.
No reaction.
No response.
Nothing to shape.
Nothing to step on.
Nothing to hold.
"…This is different."
Because before—
Even nothing had rules.
Even absence had conditions.
But this—
Didn't respond at all.
"…So what now?"
No answer.
Of course not.
Edrin exhaled slowly.
Forcing himself to stay calm.
"…Panicking won't help."
A pause.
"…Falling won't either."
He looked down—
Even though there was no "down."
Just endless empty space.
"…If there's no support…"
A breath.
"…Then I can't rely on anything outside."
Silence.
Then—
"…So it has to be me."
The moment the thought settled—
Something changed.
Not the space.
Not the fall.
But him.
Edrin felt it.
That same shift as before—
When he chose something.
"…Wait."
His descent—
Slowed.
Not stopped.
But less certain.
"…Okay."
A small breath.
"…That's something."
He focused.
Not on the fall.
Not on the emptiness.
But on himself.
"…I'm not done moving forward."
The fall slowed further.
"…I didn't come this far to just drop."
The space around him—
Didn't change.
But something beneath him—
Started to exist.
Faint.
Unstable.
But present.
Edrin blinked.
"…No way."
He shifted slightly—
Testing it.
For a split second—
It held.
Then vanished.
He dropped again.
"…Okay, not that easy."
But now he understood.
"…It's not automatic."
A pause.
"…It's not reacting."
A breath.
"…It only works if I mean it."
He steadied himself.
Even while falling.
"…I'm not falling."
Nothing happened.
He kept dropping.
"…Okay, that was a lie."
He exhaled.
"…Try again."
A pause.
"…I'm moving forward."
The fall slowed.
Just slightly.
"…Better."
He focused harder.
"…I'm not losing this."
The space beneath him—
Formed again.
More stable this time.
He pressed his foot down—
And it held.
Edrin froze.
"…Okay."
A breath.
"…Okay."
He wasn't standing on a path.
Not like before.
Not something that existed ahead of time.
This—
Only existed because he refused to fall.
"…So this is it."
A small laugh escaped him.
"…No safety net."
Another step.
It formed beneath him again.
Not automatically.
Not easily.
But it worked.
"…No guarantees."
Step.
"…No support unless I make it."
Step.
"…No room to hesitate."
Step.
Each movement—
Harder than before.
More exhausting.
But real.
Because this time—
Nothing was helping him.
Ronan's voice echoed faintly above.
"HEY! YOU STILL ALIVE?!"
Edrin looked up.
Couldn't see them.
"…YEAH!"
A pause.
"…WORKING ON IT!"
Lyra's voice followed.
"…Edrin! What's happening?!"
He exhaled.
"…I THINK—"
Step.
"…I HAVE TO DO THIS MYSELF!"
Silence.
Then Kael's voice—
Calm as always.
"…Then proceed."
Edrin smirked faintly.
"…Thanks. Very helpful."
He focused again.
Step by step.
Building something beneath him.
Not a full path.
Not stable ground.
Just enough.
Every time.
"…This is harder than everything else."
Because this time—
There was no world responding.
No system adjusting.
No rules bending.
Just—
His decision.
His will.
His refusal to fall.
He took another step.
Then another.
And slowly—
Very slowly—
The fall stopped.
Not because something caught him.
But because—
He stopped letting it continue.
Edrin exhaled deeply.
"…Okay."
A pause.
"…I'm not dead."
He looked up again.
Still couldn't see them.
But he could feel it.
That connection.
Faint.
Distant.
Still there.
"…Now what?"
He looked ahead.
And for the first time—
There was something there.
Not forming.
Not reacting.
Just… waiting.
Edrin narrowed his eyes.
"…Of course there is."
Because the moment he stopped falling—
Something new had begun.