(Vail's POV)
Silence wrapped around me like a heavy blanket.
Nothing moved within it except the faint rhythm of my own heartbeat.
I lay on the cold ground of the white room, trying to separate what was real from the reflections of my visions.
Everything felt frozen. Even the air seemed to be watching me—measuring my steps, weighing every breath I took.
I placed my right hand over my left.
It trembled faintly,
as if it were breathing with me…
calling me to notice every pulse.
I could feel it.
An inner flame boiling quietly inside me, observing every emotion, every fear.
I didn't know what was waiting for me.
And I was no longer sure who I truly was.
Was I the same Vail who thought he understood himself?
Or just a shadow on the edge of the world—something shaped by the emptiness of the Mark?
Was my grandmother Sidra truly my family…
or merely an agent of some unknown organization?
Were all those moments just a performance?
Tears fell before I even realized it.
My emotions felt unsteady, unfamiliar.
I sat on the ground and pulled my knees to my chest.
The oval room—
without walls,
without windows,
without an end—
swallowed every movement, every thought.
Another moment of silence passed.
Then a whisper came,
soft and distant,
echoing from somewhere inside me.
"Why are you here, Vail?"
The voice was deafening despite being silent.
The words echoed through my mind.
I hadn't heard it outside myself,
yet it felt stronger than any sound I had ever heard.
It wasn't really a question.
It was the reflection of my own doubts.
I raised my hand toward the Mark, trying to trace its strange lines with my fingers, trying to understand what it was hiding.
But the more I focused on it,
the more I felt it expanding—
stretching deep into my soul,
as if searching for something lost.
Fear spread slowly through my chest.
Quiet, but deep.
It reminded me of every night I had felt like a stranger…
every moment I had stood among people like a ghost without a name.
There were no sounds from the outside world.
No whispers.
No footsteps.
Nothing.
It felt as if my spirit had separated from my body.
As if I were watching myself from a distant corner of the white room.
The walls disappeared.
Instead, reflections of familiar and unfamiliar faces surrounded me.
Sidra, smiling while we worked in the fields together.
Her laughter echoed inside my head.
Her voice blended with the memory of the masked man whispering my name—
and with the mysterious voice of The Inker, still lingering somewhere in my mind.
Those visions repeated themselves again and again.
I slowly stood up and began walking through the floating room.
Each step felt as if the emptiness beneath my feet was swallowing the ground itself.
Sometimes I could see my shadow.
Sometimes it vanished.
Sometimes it moved on its own.
Then the voice returned once more.
This time clearer—
yet still only a whisper.
"You carry the Void… and you wish to understand it."
I stopped.
My heart was racing.
I closed my eyes, trying to calm the storm of thoughts inside me.
But the more I tried to ignore them,
the clearer everything became.
It was as if I could hear the whispers of the past, the present, and the future all at once.
When I opened my eyes again,
someone was standing in front of me.
A small girl.
I had never seen her before.
Her hair was silver,
and her eyes were violet—
like mist resting on the edge of dusk.
She didn't move.
She simply stood there, staring at me silently.
"W–who are you?" I asked softly.
Perhaps I was speaking more to myself than to her.
She smiled.
Then whispered:
"I am the echo of the Mark…
the first one who carried it, before it was forgotten."
She stepped closer.
Yet she didn't feel like a person.
She felt like a presence—
something made of light and shadow intertwined,
something that belonged to the Void itself.
"What do you want from me?" I asked quietly.
My voice was barely a whisper.
She replied:
"To understand.
To feel.
To choose.
Everything else is only an echo."
I sat down again, trying to process her words.
But words alone weren't enough.
I felt as though everything around me was slowly collapsing—
not violently,
but softly,
quietly.
The white walls began melting,
turning into pages from an ancient book.
Every page carried faces,
names,
memories.
Perhaps those pages belonged to the ones who had carried the Mark before me.
…
I pulled one page closer.
Suddenly—
I fell into a vision.
I saw a small child.
It was midnight.
Sidra was leaving the child at the door of an old stone building.
The masked man stood in the distance, watching silently.
A group of men spoke in low voices.
"Let him grow alone.
The Mark will awaken when the time comes."
My body trembled.
I had seen these visions before.
Why were they returning now?
I began walking slowly again.
Every step carved deeper into the emptiness.
Everything inside me seemed to breathe with me—
every fear,
every pain,
every moment of loneliness I had ever felt.
Then another voice appeared.
This one was softer.
Almost like water whispering.
"Because you were empty…
and only the empty can carry what has yet to be understood."
I froze.
"Who… who are you?"
The voice answered:
"I am the shadow of those who carried the Mark before you.
All those who vanished before it was forgotten."
I sat again, lost in thought.
Everything around me seemed distant.
Then new whispers emerged—
sharper,
closer,
as if they were speaking directly to my heart.
"Vail…
The room will only trap you if you never discover who you are…
and if you never decide what you wish to become."
I exhaled slowly.
This wasn't just guidance.
It felt like standing at a crossroads.
Every small step could shape my entire future.
I sat quietly, trying to calm my mind.
Trying to understand.
Time no longer felt linear.
It felt as though a single moment could hold both past and future together.
Then a faint light appeared behind me.
It wasn't bright.
It was gentle—
emerging from nothing,
from the Void itself.
I looked at it.
For the first time since the Mark appeared,
I felt a strange sense of calm.
I stepped toward the light slowly.
Each step carried the weight of my thoughts.
And with every step,
I felt something moving inside my body.
Something ancient.
Something hidden.
Something testing me—
as if the Mark itself were judging me.
At the center of the light,
there was a small sphere of energy.
It shimmered softly,
breathing like a living thing.
I reached out and touched it.
Warmth spread through my hand—
then rushed through my entire body.
It wasn't just energy.
It was a message.
"Every step leads you forward.
Every emotion is your choice.
Every fear is part of you."
I sat there quietly,
watching the sphere,
listening to the voice of the Void,
trying to understand.
Time seemed to stop.
The moment felt endless.
Everything felt possible.
And everything felt like it could collapse in a single second.
Then Tilin whispered from somewhere far away, though she was nowhere to be seen.
"The next step, Vail…
is where choices are born.
Are you ready?"
I didn't answer.
I simply sat there,
breathing slowly,
watching the emptiness around me.
And for the first time,
I began to understand one thing.
The Mark was not merely power.
It was a mirror.
A mirror reflecting everything I had been—
and everything I might become.
"Everything I once was…
and everything I have become."
So I remained there,
inside the white room,
listening to the echo of my own soul.
At first it was faint.
Then clearer.
Then louder.
And I began to wonder—
what should I do now?
At first,
I didn't want anything.
But something inside me slowly began to move.
This moment—
the moment I began to understand myself—
felt heavier than anything before.
I don't even know where I am.
All my life, I simply didn't care.
I went to school.
Returned to my grandmother Sidra.
Went to the market.
Sometimes went out with friends.
I never asked questions.
So why now?
Why did the Forgotten Mark suddenly appear?
Why me?
I never asked for any of this.
Even if I had been given the choice…
I would have refused.
A Mark that hasn't appeared since Year 334 of the Paths…
awakening now—
and choosing me?
Why?
I only…
I only wish that I'm dreaming.
That I will wake up,
see my grandmother Sidra beside me,
and realize that all of this…
is nothing but a lie.