The Shadow Corridor slowly returned to stability.
The mist walls returned to their places. The shadow floor reformed. As if the illusion of destruction from earlier was merely a small ripple on the surface of something far deeper.
But the symbol on Kael's wrist had not stopped glowing.
Lyra looked at him with an expression mixed between awe and worry.
"You just spoke directly with the second observer... and are still standing."
Kael looked at the tall silhouette at the end of the corridor.
"Is that rare?"
Lyra answered flatly.
"Usually those tested by him... do not return."
Several seconds passed.
The silhouette remained standing in its place.
But the mist in its body began to loosen.
As if the creature had lost interest.
The voice in Kael's head emerged again.
Softer now.
"I like your answer."
"Curiosity is the beginning of many disasters."
Kael did not respond.
The voice continued.
"But before I go..."
The mist around the silhouette began to move.
Gathering.
Swirling.
Then something like black light fragments slid out from that projection's body.
The fragments moved fast.
Directly toward Kael.
Lyra immediately realized what was happening.
"Wait—!"
But it was too late.
The black mist fragment touched Kael's wrist.
The Veil symbol immediately blazed bright.
The cracks within that mark added one more line.
Kael felt a strange sensation.
Not pain.
More like something that had just fully become aware of him.
The voice spoke for the last time.
"Consider this a small gift."
"Or perhaps a curse."
The large silhouette began to fade.
Its mist unraveled back into small shadows in the corridor.
But before completely disappearing, the voice said one last sentence.
"We will meet again, Bearer of Marks."
Then that presence was gone.
The Shadow Corridor returned to silence.
The small shadows that had bowed earlier slowly returned to moving as usual.
As if their king had just left the room.
Lyra immediately reached for Kael's hand.
She looked at the symbol on his wrist seriously.
"Damn."
Kael looked at that mark.
Its cracks now formed a slightly different pattern.
More complex.
"What changed?"
Lyra answered honestly.
"You now have two marks."
Kael raised an eyebrow.
"Should I feel proud?"
Lyra shook her head.
"The first mark came from that book."
She pointed at the faintly glowing symbol.
"The second mark... came directly from the Observer."
Kael looked at the corridor before them.
"And that means?"
Lyra looked at him seriously.
"It means now you are not only seen by the Veil."
She paused for a moment.
"Now... some things inside it will begin seeking you."
Several seconds of silence.
Then the book in Lyra's hand suddenly opened again.
Pages moved rapidly.
Black ink appeared with writing far sharper than before.
Lyra read that sentence.
And for the first time since they entered the Shadow Corridor...
she truly looked nervous.
Kael took that book.
He read the writing that emerged.
The sentence was short.
But enough to make the air around them feel colder.
"Someone in the real world has felt the change of that mark."
Several seconds later the ink wrote again.
"They are heading toward you."