That white light did not dazzle.
It... swallowed.
One step inside felt like falling without moving. No direction, no time, only a brief sensation that Kael's body was no longer fully his own.
Then—
hard floor.
Warm air.
Smell of metal and oil.
Kael opened his eyes.
They were in a narrow room with dull steel walls. Dim yellow lamps hung from the ceiling, trembling softly like nearly dying. There were no windows.
Only one thick iron door before them.
Lyra immediately looked around.
"We got out?"
Adrian closed his pocket watch.
Click.
"Technically, yes."
Kael stood slowly.
The symbol on his wrist still felt warm, but no longer pulsed wildly like in the Shadow Corridor.
Yet something still felt wrong.
He breathed.
This air... was too stable.
No whispers.
No pressure.
Too silent.
"This isn't the real world, is it?"
Adrian smiled thinly.
"You learn quickly."
Lyra looked at him sharply.
"Then what is this?"
Adrian walked to the center of the room.
"A safe place."
He paused for a moment.
"More or less."
Kael raised an eyebrow.
"'More or less' is not a reassuring word."
Adrian shrugged.
"This place lies between two sides."
He knocked on the steel wall softly.
"Not fully in the real world."
He pointed toward where they came from.
"And not deep enough to be touched by the Veil."
Lyra crossed her arms.
"Neutral zone."
Adrian nodded.
"The crude version."
Kael walked closer to the wall.
He touched its surface.
Solid.
Cold.
But there was a subtle sensation behind it.
Like something... trembling very softly.
He pulled his hand back.
"This won't last long, will it?"
Adrian looked at him.
"No."
Lyra immediately exhaled.
"Good. At least you're honest."
Silence for several seconds.
Then Kael looked at Adrian.
"Who are you, really?"
Adrian did not answer immediately.
He walked to the corner of the room and leaned against it.
"That question usually comes earlier."
Kael looked at him without expression.
"I was waiting for the situation to become bad enough."
Adrian smiled slightly.
"Makes sense."
He finally spoke.
"I'm part of a group that... observes things like this."
Lyra narrowed her eyes.
"An organization?"
Adrian nodded.
"You could call it that."
Kael asked,
"And your purpose?"
Adrian answered casually.
"Preventing people like you from making the world more chaotic."
Lyra snorted softly.
"Sounds like a good reason to control others."
Adrian did not deny it.
"Usually it is."
Silence.
Kael folded his arms.
"So now what?"
Adrian pointed at Kael's wrist.
"Now we talk about that."
Kael looked at his symbol.
Two cracks.
An increasingly complex pattern.
Adrian continued,
"The first came from the artifact."
He raised one finger.
"The second came from something far older."
He raised a second finger.
Kael looked at him.
"And that's a problem?"
Adrian laughed lightly.
"The problem isn't the quantity."
He leaned forward slightly.
"The problem is... you're still alive."
Lyra frowned.
"That should be a good thing."
Adrian shook his head slowly.
"Not for cases like this."
He looked at Kael seriously now.
"People who bear two marks usually don't survive long enough to ask what happened."
Kael did not react.
"That means I'm an exception."
Adrian nodded.
"And a world like this... doesn't like exceptions."
Suddenly—
the steel wall behind them trembled.
Softly.
Very softly.
Lyra immediately turned.
"You said this place was safe."
Adrian answered without looking.
"I said 'more or less'."
The vibration came again.
This time clearer.
Like something... knocking from the other side.
Kael looked at the wall.
Not from outside.
From inside.
He narrowed his eyes.
"That's not from the Veil."
Adrian smiled thinly.
"Good."
He stood straight.
"That means you're starting to be able to distinguish."
Lyra asked quickly,
"If not from the Veil... then from where?"
Silence.
The knock sounded again.
Louder.
THUD.
THUD.
THUD.
Adrian looked at that wall for several seconds.
Then said softly,
"From something that... shouldn't exist between two worlds."
Kael felt the symbol on his hand grow warm again.
Not as strong as before.
But enough to give warning.
"And now?"
Adrian took out his pocket watch again.
Click.
The symbols inside moved faster.
He looked at Kael.
"Now we hope... it hasn't found a way in yet."
The knocking stopped.
Silent.
One second.
Two seconds.
Then—
the surface of that steel wall... bulged slightly.
Like something behind it was trying to press outward.
Lyra whispered,
"That's not a good thing."
Adrian answered flatly,
"Never is."