Dora and Onur set out for the Administrators’ Building, determined at last to hear everything firsthand and to ask their questions directly. The moment they arrived, they hurried into the lift and made straight for Lady Okyanus’s office. They knocked almost perfunctorily and pushed their way inside.

  Lady Okyanus was seated with Mr Zafer and Mr Galip, deep in conversation, and the sudden intrusion into the room startled them slightly. Only Lady Okyanus carried herself as though she had, in truth, been expecting this. With quiet courtesy, she gestured to the chairs before her desk, inviting them to sit.

  Dora and Onur sank reluctantly into the soft, blue, wave-shaped armchairs.

  It was Dora who spoke first.

  “You must have guessed why we came,” she said, her voice edged with restrained anger.

  Lady Okyanus nodded slowly, signalling that she understood.

  Dora looked at the three administrators and continued,

  “Then let me ask directly. Whose idea was it to choose us as replicas of Elzem and Sonsuz? Did you make us live through all that merely to fill their places? If that truly was the only reason! Now they’re gone as well! The Reborns have vanished! Tell us plainly what happened—or what else you are planning!”

  After exchanging glances with Mr Zafer and Mr Galip and receiving their silent consent, Lady Okyanus let out a deep breath. She rose to her feet, looked Dora and Onur in the face, and spoke.

  “The Unparalleled Hunt is, in truth, a deep wound. A problem in itself! It is the hunt of death and beginning. It is nothing like the simple cliché of ‘the last hunter becomes the champion.’ I believe you have understood that by now. The Unparalleled Hunt is actually the hunt of the Field. The Field observes how and in what manner power is displayed, and it seeks an answer. The answer it believes it has found is carried out by an absolute hunter. Yet in reality, there is never just one hunter. As its name suggests, the Field desires Unparalleledness—that is, something unique, singular, and nonexistent all at once. It grants Unparalleledness to the team that embodies all these at the same time, within the same hunt. And then all power becomes theirs. But to achieve this, the hunters must be exceedingly powerful. At the same time, they must be capable—when necessary—of renouncing both themselves and everyone else. They must have digested both existence and nonexistence. In order to receive power, they must first master it. If they can do so, the Field rewards them. Yet it must never be forgotten: every reward arrives with its punishment. And even that is determined by the Field. Those who dare this—those who pursue Unparalleledness, who desire power—are, from the very beginning, choosing their own annihilation.

  “Until now, only one team ever set its sights upon this madness. And they paid a very heavy price. Hoping another team might correct their mistake, Elzem, Sonsuz, and Zifiri were pushed into this game. They advanced further than anyone had ever dared and came very close to success. But at the final moment, they sacrificed Zifiri. The hunt was left incomplete once again. For the second time, the dark onslaught came. Yet this state could not remain. Otherwise, the Field would once again make the hunters—and the Breaker army bound to them—pay for that incompleteness. I could not allow Unparalleled to vanish, nor the hunters to die. That is why I tried to resolve the situation using the replicas of the team that had come closest to success. I undertook this, even at the cost of ruining your lives and Doruk’s. Unfortunately—as you now know—I possess a failed replicas plan… until Elzem and Sonsuz return! They returned once before. They will do so again, and they will be the only salvation for both you and us,” she said, her eyes shadowed with a despair she struggled to conceal.

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  Dora leapt to her feet in fury.

  “So you’re saying you ruined Sonsuz and his team for the sake of others’ lives—and ruined ours for the sake of theirs?” she shouted.

  Mr Zafer replied in a calm but firm tone,

  “This curse must be stopped, Dora. Otherwise, everyone will sink.”

  Onur shoved his hands into his pockets, trying to contain his anger.

  “And if they don’t return? What happens if Elzem and Sonsuz never come back?” he asked.

  Mr Galip answered with a strange ease,

  “If you knew those two, you wouldn’t ask such a question. This is about Zifiri. If not for anyone else, they will return for him.”

  Unable to restrain herself, Dora demanded,

  “And what if that hunter called Zifiri isn’t alive?”

  Lady Okyanus cast her a meaningful glance.

  “Did you truly believe Doruk was dead?”

  Dora and Onur exchanged a look and fell silent for a moment.

  After leaving the Administrators’ Building, they walked for a long time. As the sun neared the horizon, they sat upon the rocks along the shore at the bottom of the Unparalleled waters.

  They did not speak a single word between them, until the silence was broken by Ay??l—and by the Patternbreaker she was trying to conceal beside her. They sat down near them and waited for them to speak. When no sound came, Ay??l did not wait any longer.

  “I suppose you know more clearly now what’s been happening,” she said, looking at Dora and Onur.

  Onur kept his eyes fixed on the setting sun.

  “What do we know, Ay??l?” he asked, his expression weary.

  Dora answered as if responding to him,

  “That we know nothing at all.”

  Ay??l glanced at the Patternbreaker, who stood muttering quietly beside her, then looked back at them.

  “We were nearby when you left the Administrators’ Building. I know what you talked about. We slipped in and listened at the door,” she admitted. She had managed it thanks to the Patternbreaker, who was exceptionally skilled at covert dealings.

  In a voice full of earnest understanding, Ay??l continued,

  “I didn’t hear everything, but I heard enough. You can’t be this hopeless. You must accept it—they, Elzem and Sonsuz, are the strongest hunters. You have no choice but to trust in their strength. I know it feels unbearable to be brought in like spare parts to replace them. But they are still your only salvation! They are what keeps Doruk alive.”

  Dora shouted angrily,

  “So what, we’re supposed to throw ourselves upon their mercy?”

  Ay??l replied as calmly as she could,

  “You know it too, Dora. They can do what no one else can. They can go further than anyone could ever predict. If you want Doruk back, you have to trust them.”

  Onur straightened, his posture resolute.

  “I will not do that. I will determine my own fate during the hunt,” he said.

  Dora nodded in agreement.

  “Anything else would never suit us.”

  Ay??l’s face fell in disappointment.

  “Becoming their rivals will only benefit the Abyss,” she said.

  Dora seized Ay??l by the shoulders.

  “You’ll see who the winner is when the hunt ends! Everyone will see,” she declared, her eyes burning with determination.

  Ay??l cast a sorrowful glance at the Patternbreaker, then fell silent, weighed down by the grief of sensing all too well what might come.