When everyone is looking in the same direction, the truth chooses the blind spot.
Just like with magicians: the shining hand draws the eye... while everything important happens somewhere else.
Meanwhile, on the technical balcony, Neris watched her perfectly crafted thirty-two-second video loop. She adjusted the offset slightly. Just enough to feel real.
"Loop validated."
She armed Plan B. An encrypted automatic transmission, ready to launch if anything went wrong. Her badge turned green. She descended and blended into the technical crew. She became invisible.
Near the fence, she barely slowed. The scanner did its job. Authorization flashed green.
As the distant roar of the crowd echoed through the air, she suddenly veered left. Out of the flow, she lifted a section of fence she had already identified and slipped through without a sound.
Behind her, the TV set blazed beneath powerful lights, leaving the Fissure hidden in shadow.
A few minutes later, Neris reached it. The change was immediate for her too, colder air, a metallic scent. The noise vanished instantly. She placed a hand against the wall. The concrete felt different, almost like stone or mineral skin.
"Thirty-two seconds..."
She moved forward while counting.
Twelve… Nineteen… Twenty-seven...
She paused for a fraction of a second. Then continued. A drop of water landed on her neck. She smiled.
Always something trying to test my nerves.
Yet as she advanced, another thought emerged.
That's it?
The Fissure wasn't trying to swallow her. There were no traps, no invisible force, no buried security system hidden in the walls.
Nothing.
Just a few meters of stone, dust, and silence. She accelerated slightly.
Her entire childhood, she had been taught that the other side was a threat. Something dangerous and unpredictable. Something that had to be monitored, controlled, contained.
As if crossing that boundary was nearly impossible.
And yet… She was running through it. The thought almost made her laugh. How many things had she been taught were absolute truths? How many fears existed only because stories had been repeated again and again?
A few seconds later, she saw the green light of the exit.
Twenty-nine… Thirty… Thirty-one… Thirty-two.
And the forest appeared before her, bright, green, dense. She immediately spotted the rotating drones and activated her decoys and timing loop. The drones pivoted slightly, just enough to let her pass.
She breathed, counted and ran as fast as she could. Everything was fine. Then, breathless and pressed beneath a massive root, she noticed tracks in the moss, fresh and clear. She narrowed her eyes.
Well... I'm not alone.
She dropped a micro-marker. A tiny black grain, invisible to the naked eye but detectable in infrared. Just in case she needed to return quickly. She checked her pockets: emergency module, mini flashlight, battery pack. Same direction as the tracks, toward higher ground and forward.
Several kilometers away, at Headquarters, Kaïssa Valdor barely glanced up from her screens. The massive display wall projected two overlapping feeds: Police... and Production. Both had just reported the same anomaly.
A half-second delay.
Too short to be an accident. Too clean to be a coincidence.
Someone tampered with the system?
She pinched the bridge of her nose. The algorithm continued displaying perfect curves. Stable variance. No red alerts.
Everything was normal. Too normal.
"Send a foot patrol to the north side near the Fissure. Ten minutes maximum."
"Copy, Madam Valdor."
"And tighten the police drone orbit. Increase density by ten percent. Reduce altitude by fifteen. Priority coverage on the antenna ramp blind spots and the access path to the Fissure. I want clean thermal scans every pass."
"Understood."
"Verify it. And don't interrupt me again unless you find something."
She cut the communication immediately. Then she felt something cold slip into her stomach. It wasn't fear. Not exactly, but more like the distant memory of danger. A vague warning. She crushed the feeling at once. Unacceptable. Instantly, her expression became smooth and controlled again.
Never show emotion. Never.
On the set, Lila continued orchestrating everything like an invisible conductor, discreet headset, active earpiece and a silver jacket calibrated for studio lighting.
"Cam One on me. Cam Two wide audience shot. Drone A, top shot on Kaël, then zoom on his eyes... then pan to the Fissure."
She adjusted a monitor.
"Less smile... yes. Perfect."
Everything was ready. The audience was buzzing. The stands were full. Hundreds of feet tapped in rhythm with the show's opening jingle.
A red sign lit up: LIVE / ON AIR
In the meantime, as the electro chiefs completed their final checks near the northern barrier, a patrol entered the area. Two officers with raised visors positioned themselves near the path leading to the Fissure. They were visible but not intrusive. The camera technicians subtly adjusted their framing so the audience wouldn't notice them.
Lila's earpiece crackled.
"Kaïssa is monitoring remotely. She wants a safety reminder in the opening."
"Copy. We'll make it sound soft."
Countdown. Three… Two… One...
"Good evening, Biel!"
Her smile was flawless.
"Welcome to Detective Trials live at the foot of the Wall!"
Applause erupted everywhere.
"Tonight, we're taking you closer than ever to the Fissure that has fascinated our city for years."
She paused for effect.
"With maximum safety measures and fully validated protocols, of course… but you know us."
A playful glance at the camera.
"We're going to look where nobody else looks."
The crowd exploded with excitement as Kaël stepped onto the stage. The timing was perfect. Dark tracksuit, controlled confidence, he smiled while shaking Lila's hand and positioning himself exactly on his mark.
"Kaël, tonight you're going where nobody has dared to go. How are you feeling?"
He grinned.
"Tonight, it's all-in. I follow the protocol... I stay alive... and we bring back footage."
The audience laughed. Fans waved signs. A cluster of teenagers shouted his name.
"Shh... we're live," Lila teased with a wink.
"Perfect!" the control room announced. "Drone A in arc position. Cam Three on the north barrier."
The northern gate opened to allow the team through. One of the controllers checked his tablet. Scrolling lists, green lights, red lights, everything seemed normal.
Back at Headquarters, Kaïssa continued watching the mosaic heat map. Overlaid on the display, a faint circular signal beyond the wall was moving and shrinking.
An animal?
She sent a voice message to the police.
"If the northern alert persists, shut down the public zone for ninety seconds under a safety recalibration pretext."
"I don't want to take any risks."
"Understood," replied her deputy.
On-site, Camera One tracked Kael with precision as he approached the pathway leading toward the Fissure. Above him, Drone A traced a clean arc while Drone B descended for a heroic low-angle shot.
"Security. North patrol in position," announced the deputy.
"Received," Kaïssa replied.
Kaël placed his hand on the fence. The camera zoomed in: tense skin, visible veins. Around him, the sound vibrated—crowd noise, radios, drones. He lifted his gaze.
"We're here..."
A silence drifted across the stands.
"Beyond this barrier..."
He looked toward the Fissure.
"...nothing or maybe... something else."
The entire set seemed to hold its breath. Kael hesitated for a second. Then, despite the script, he continued.
"For years, some people have claimed they've seen things on the other side, lights, presences, sometimes even spirits of nature."
A few nervous laughs rippled through the crowd.
"Of course, most of the time, people say they're mistaken."
The camera moved even closer.
"That they imagined it."
"Or that they've simply gone crazy."
No one laughed this time.
His eyes never left the Fissure.
"And yet..."
Silence.
"If nobody has ever truly looked..."
The camera zoomed tighter.
"...how can we be certain they were wrong?"
A deep jingle echoed across the set, almost sacred. Lila immediately stepped in. A brief tension crossed her face after Kael's improvised words, but she recovered flawlessly.
"In just a few moments, Kael will approach the opening itself. Don't go anywhere."
She turned toward camera two.
"A message from Kaïssa Valdor: security has been reinforced with orbital drone coverage and complete operational control."
She smiled.
"We thank our authorities for allowing us to understand, live and in real time, what continues to fracture our city....and perhaps encounter what some call the spirits of nature."
The audience seemed caught between fascination and discomfort. Lila's reassuring smile returned.
"Don't worry."
She looked directly into the lens.
"We are perfectly protected even at the edge of the abyss."
The camera lingered on the Fissure. And within the shadows...something moved.
Not Kaël.
Not a visual effect.
Perhaps...
Something from the other side?
The Guardian Angel: Neris still believes she is moving forward, driven by her anger, her doubts, and her choices. Yet every step she takes, every trial she faces, every fear she overcomes brings her closer to a path far greater than she can imagine. Little by little, a subtle intelligence reveals itself—older and greater than she is—guiding her existence toward a purpose she cannot yet understand.