The knock echoed again.
Slow.
Heavy.
Each impact spread through reality like a pulse moving beneath the skin of the world itself. The fractured sky trembled violently after the second sound, and every crack stretching across the heavens widened just enough for darkness to spill through them like smoke.
No one moved.
No one even breathed properly.
Because deep down, all of us understood the same terrifying truth at the exact same moment.
Something behind the Door wanted to enter.
The pressure crushing the battlefield deepened instantly afterward.
Rin dropped fully to both knees, blood running slowly from the corner of his mouth now.
Lira could no longer even raise her head.
Faye remained standing beside me, but her grip around my hand tightened slightly.
Not from fear for herself.
Fear for me.
The entity near the fracture slowly lifted its gaze toward the Door beyond the sky.
For the first time since appearing…
Its expression changed.
Concern.
The realization sent cold through my chest.
Even it was unsettled by whatever stood behind that Door.
The voice beyond reality whispered softly through my mind.
It woke earlier than expected.
I clenched my teeth immediately.
"What woke?"
The entity looked at me carefully.
"It."
The knock came again.
This time harder.
The sky cracked downward.
A massive black fracture split across the heavens, stretching from horizon to horizon while darkness poured through the opening like an endless ocean trying to flood into our world.
And then—
Something moved behind the Door.
Only briefly.
A silhouette.
Impossible to fully understand.
Too massive.
Too distant.
Yet the instant I saw it—
Pain exploded through my body.
I screamed.
The synchronization inside me surged completely out of control.
Black fractures spread across my entire arm instantly, glowing violently beneath my skin while the pressure around my body erupted outward in waves powerful enough to shatter the remaining battlefield around us.
"Kael!"
Faye grabbed my shoulder immediately.
The contact barely reached me.
Because the moment I saw that silhouette…
Memories that were not mine shattered through my mind completely.
The previous chosen one standing before the Door.
Crying.
Begging something beyond it not to open.
The same silhouette moving in darkness behind the ancient gates.
Watching him.
Waiting.
And then—
The Door opening.
Only slightly.
Just enough for screaming to begin.
Reality snapped violently back around me.
I dropped hard onto one knee, breathing like my lungs had forgotten how to function.
The entity stepped toward me immediately.
"You saw it."
Not a question.
I could barely answer.
"…What is that thing…"
Silence followed.
Long.
Heavy.
Then finally—
"The first one."
Cold spread through every part of my body.
The first one.
Not a title.
An origin.
The pressure around the battlefield deepened again.
The entity's voice lowered slightly.
"The one who crossed completely."
Rin looked up sharply despite barely being conscious.
"You mean… there was someone before all of this?"
The entity nodded slowly.
"Before the Door. Before the synchronization. Before the fractures."
Its eyes returned to me.
"He was the first human to reach beyond reality."
My chest tightened painfully.
And somehow…
I already knew the rest.
"He never came back."
The entity remained silent.
That silence answered enough.
The knock echoed again.
Closer now.
The Door trembled beyond the fractured sky.
The silhouette behind it shifted slightly, and for a brief horrifying second, I felt its gaze lock directly onto me.
Not curious.
Hungry.
Every fracture beneath my skin burned instantly.
The voice beyond reality whispered sharply.
It knows you inherited the path.
Pain ripped through my chest again.
The inherited memories flooded harder now.
The previous chosen one fighting desperately to close the Door again after realizing what waited behind it.
The loneliness.
The fear.
The regret.
And worst of all—
The understanding that once the Door opened fully…
Something beyond human comprehension would finally enter this world.
Faye pulled me back slightly.
"Kael, stay focused."
I forced myself to breathe.
But it was becoming harder.
Because part of me could still feel the Door calling.
Not the thing behind it.
The Door itself.
As if it recognized me as incomplete while separated from it.
The entity suddenly looked upward sharply.
Its expression darkened instantly.
"It's forcing the opening."
The battlefield trembled violently.
Above us, the ancient Door slowly began separating at its center.
Not fully.
Just enough for darkness to become visible between the massive gates.
And from that opening…
An eye appeared.
Massive.
Black.
Ancient beyond understanding.
The moment it opened—
Every living thing on the battlefield froze completely.
Not emotionally.
Physically.
I could not move.
Could not breathe.
Could not even think correctly beneath the weight of that gaze.
Because that eye was not simply looking at us.
It was examining existence itself.
Rin collapsed unconscious instantly.
Lira screamed.
Faye's body trembled despite her resistance.
Even the entity near the fracture stepped backward for the first time.
Fear.
Real fear.
The eye beyond the Door slowly focused on me.
And then—
It smiled.
Not with a mouth.
With intent.
The voice that followed did not sound ancient anymore.
It sounded awake.
Finally.
The word echoed through reality itself.
The synchronization inside me shattered upward violently.
Black fractures spread across half my body instantly.
And somewhere deep inside my mind…
Something answered that voice back.