Connor didn’t answer.

  No matter how many questions I threw at him, he just watched me with that same composed expression—

  Steady... unreadable, almost unfairly calm.

  The darkness around us felt endless, but he stood like he belonged to it.

  Like it answered to him.

  We stayed like that for what felt like minutes, maybe longer.

  My breathing was uneven.

  His wasn’t.

  Finally, he exhaled.

  “Alright,” he said quietly. “It seems it’s time I tell you at least one fact.”

  My chest tightened.

  “Because,” he continued, “I’m free now.”

  The word hit harder than anything else he had said.

  Free?

  Free from what?

  “I’ll guide you,” he said, voice steady. “To the bitter truth behind Exvertia, Ria.”

  The way he said my name made the darkness feel closer.

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  I stared at him, my thoughts colliding violently.

  “W-what do you mean… free?” My voice shook despite myself. “Free from what? What are you talking about?”

  Connor inhaled slowly, then released it. For the first time, something in his expression shifted.

  “Now isn’t the time,” he said.

  That answer only made everything worse.

  “I know this place,” he continued. “Or places like it. I’ve investigated similar spaces before.”

  Investigated?

  He spoke as if this void were a location on a map.

  “As for the rest,” he added, turning slightly, “send my regards to Kana. She’ll find you soon.”

  My mind froze.

  Kana.

  “How do you know her?” I demanded. “Connor—how do you even know Kana?”

  The darkness seemed to lean in, listening.

  “Do you have some kind of special relationship?” The words left me before I could stop them. “Is that why you—”

  Connor didn’t react.

  No embarrassment.

  Just calm.

  “I’m not the only one involved,” he said quietly. “And neither are you.”

  That didn’t answer anything.

  It only widened the gap beneath my feet.

  “We don’t have time,” he added, his tone sharpening slightly. “Your friends are in danger.”

  The word danger shattered whatever composure I had left.

  I asked quickly to him. “What’s happening to them? Are they—”

  “I’ll help you,” he interrupted.

  Help me.

  Not help them.

  He turned around.

  Just like that.

  And began walking into the darkness.

  “Wait!” I ran after him instinctively. “Connor, don’t just walk away! You can’t drop something like that and—”

  The ground shifted.

  My foot caught on something solid.

  Stone.

  I fell forward hard, palms scraping against rough rock.

  Pain flared through my hands.

  When I looked up—

  The ancient stone corridor was back.

  Walls covered in carvings.

  Symbols twisting across the surface like living scars.

  Connor was gone.

  “Connor!” I shouted.

  My voice echoed violently this time.

  No answer.

  I scrambled to my feet and ran forward again, yet after only a few steps, the corridor blurred.

  The engravings twisted.

  The walls stretched.

  And suddenly—

  I was back where I started.

  The exact same spot.

  The same crack in the stone near my feet.

  The same spiral carving on the wall to my right.

  No matter how far I ran, I returned to the beginning.

  My breathing grew sharp.

  This wasn’t a place.