A distant tremor rippled across the sky—so faint it barely disturbed the clouds, yet every seasoned fighter in the courtyard felt it travel through their bones. A reminder. A promise. A presence only half-withdrawn.
Sebastian's gaze sharpened—not with fear, but with recognition, as if he sensed a thread being tugged somewhere beyond mortal reach. Luna kept her arm locked around him, refusing to let anyone or anything pull him out of her grasp.
The Big 8 exchanged uneasy glances. None dared speak first, not until the silence became unbearable.
It was Adriel who finally broke.
"We need to move him," he said quietly. "Not for containment—but protection. If that presence returns sooner than expected—"
"It won't," Sebastian murmured.
Luna looked at him sharply. "How do you know?"
He closed his eyes briefly.
"Because it's waiting for me to recover."
The courtyard froze.
Even wind hesitated.
Kenjie exhaled slowly. "So it can try again."
Sebastian didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
Luna swallowed and adjusted her grip around his waist. "Then we leave. Now."
Enra stepped forward. "We need diagnostics—scans—"
Andrea's voice cut through like an arrow.
"You'll get nothing if he collapses."
Kael's eyes narrowed. "Where do we take him? Infirmary? Isolation wing? Or—"
Luna glared daggers at him.
"No isolation."
Kael lifted his hands in surrender. "Just asking."
"Dorms," Garet said unexpectedly.
Everyone turned toward him.
He wiped blood from his lip where the earlier pressure had crushed him to the ground. "If you leave him in any official facility, the Conclave will override it. But his personal dorm? They can't breach that without breaching the student code."
Adriel frowned. "That won't stop them."
"It will slow them," Garet replied.
The Big 8 exchanged looks.
They didn't like it.
But they couldn't deny it.
Luna nodded. "Dorms it is."
Sebastian pushed weakly off her shoulder. "I can walk."
He couldn't.
His legs trembled the second he shifted weight.
Luna caught him again immediately.
"No," she said softly.
"You can't."
His eyes lowered.
Not out of embarrassment.
Out of frustration—subtle, quiet, dangerous frustration—at his own instability.
The kind only someone who never failed could feel.
Luna moved his arm over her shoulders and supported him with a strength far beyond her frame. "Lean on me."
He did.
Not fully.
But enough.
Kenjie stepped ahead. "We'll clear a path."
Andrea nodded and strode forward, bow still drawn just in case the sky changed again.
Rhea stayed close, air swirling lightly around her fingertips as a defensive warning.
Kael monitored the atmosphere with every tool he had.
Adriel whispered weakened blessings under his breath, though he looked terrified they wouldn't matter against something like this.
Garet walked behind, spear in hand, eyes locked on the sky—as if daring it to test itself again.
They moved as a unit.
Not by choice.
By necessity.
The Academy parted before them. Students whispered, cried, or stared in stunned fear.
Sebastian Raizen—unshakeable, unreadable, untouchable—needed support?
It wasn't weakness they saw.
It was magnitude.
They didn't whisper, "He's hurt."
They whispered:
"Whatever shook him… what is coming for us?"
Luna ignored them, focused entirely on keeping Sebastian upright. Every few steps his breath faltered, and she adjusted her hold. Each time she did, her heart hammered harder.
The dorm entrance rose ahead.
Just as they approached—
A deep voice rang out.
"Hold."
The Big 8 tensed immediately.
From the shadows of the courtyard arch emerged an instructor cloaked in black and silver robes. His presence alone silenced the world around him.
Professor Ryeon.
Ranking: Unknown.
Specialization: Forbidden Studies.
Affiliation: Conclave.
The worst possible person to appear now.
Luna's body coiled with protective instinct. "Move aside."
Ryeon's eyes slid past the Big 8, past Garet, past Luna—
—and settled directly on Sebastian.
"Raizen."
His voice carried a calm so cold it felt like a knife.
"The Conclave requests your presence. Immediately."
Andrea's bow lifted without hesitation.
Kael powered the magnetic locks on his forearms.
Rhea's wind sharpened.
Kenjie blurred forward half a step, hand on his blade.
Garet planted his spear.
Luna spoke last.
"No."
Ryeon raised an eyebrow. "No?"
She glared through him.
"You're not taking him."
He folded his hands behind his back. "The phenomenon specifically reacted to him. The Conclave must investigate. Refusal is not an option."
"I'm not refusing." Sebastian's voice broke into the tense air.
Luna turned to him instantly. "Sebastian—"
He shook his head once. He wasn't stable, but his eyes were clear.
"I'm stating a fact."
Ryeon looked mildly amused. "And what fact is that?"
Sebastian met his gaze.
"You can't take me."
The air shifted.
Ryeon's expression darkened. "Be careful, Raizen. Even you cannot defy the Conclave indefinitely."
"I'm not defying anything." Sebastian's voice remained level, but quiet. "I'm telling you what will happen. You cannot take me today."
"Why not?" Ryeon asked.
Sebastian answered without looking at the sky.
"Because if you force it… it will come back."
A pulse passed through the courtyard.
Soft.
Cold.
Overwhelming.
Ryeon's composure cracked for a fraction of a breath. "What makes you believe that?"
"It marked me," Sebastian said simply.
Everyone froze.
Luna's pulse stopped.
The Big 8 inhaled sharply.
Even Garet felt his knees weaken.
Ryeon finally lost all pretense of calm. "Marked… in what way?"
Sebastian closed his eyes.
"I don't know. But it will know where I am. And if you try to hide me, restrain me, or isolate me—"
His eyes reopened.
Sharp.
Cold.
Knowing.
"—it will treat that as interference."
A horrific silence swallowed the hallway.
Ryeon studied him long enough for tension to turn painful.
Finally—
"…Very well."
He stepped aside.
"You have one day."
Luna's breath trembled with both relief and dread.
Ryeon vanished back into the shadows.
The Big 8 exhaled together.
Adriel spoke first.
"Sebastian… what does 'marked' mean?"
Sebastian didn't answer.
Because he didn't know.
Not consciously.
But his body knew.
His resonance knew.
His other self—somewhere across infinite universes—knew.
Luna supported him as they reached the dorm door. "Sebastian… do you feel it? Is it… still watching?"
He rested his head against her shoulder as his breath slowed again.
"…yes."
"When will it stop?"
He exhaled.
"…when it returns."
Luna's grip tightened.
"Then we stay awake," she whispered.
"Together."
Sebastian closed his eyes.
Not out of exhaustion.
But because the truth washed over him like cold water.
The first Gate hadn't opened.
The first Gate had only found him.
And the second would not come with curiosity.
It would come with purpose.
The hallway leading toward Sebastian's dorm should have been familiar—quiet, sunlit, lined with crystalline lamps that shimmered with soft mana—but today everything felt wrong.
Too still.
Too watchful.
Too aware.
The Big 8 spread out instinctively, forming an escort without speaking. Not to protect Sebastian from the Academy… but to protect the Academy from whatever was resonating inside him.
Luna lifted her chin when a cluster of students peeked around the corner. She didn't have to say a word—her glare alone sent them scrambling.
Sebastian kept his eyes ahead.
He wasn't stumbling anymore.
But he wasn't steady.
He walked as if the world beneath his feet was misaligned.
As if something in the air was whispering coordinates not meant for this universe.
Andrea kept glancing back at him. "You're too quiet."
Rhea answered first. "He's always quiet."
"Not like this," Andrea replied.
True.
Because this silence wasn't restraint.
It wasn't composure.
It was… listening.
Kenjie picked up on it next. "You're tracking something we can't sense."
Sebastian didn't deny it.
Luna's arm tightened subtly around him. "What do you hear?"
He exhaled.
Not tired.
Not pained.
Just… heavy.
"Something trying to remember me."
The group halted.
Garet's grip tightened around his spear. "Why does it need to remember? Isn't seeing you enough?"
"No," Sebastian murmured. "It's trying to identify which version of me I am."
Every head whipped toward him.
Andrea's voice trembled for the first time all day. "Version…?"
Sebastian kept walking.
"This isn't the first time it has felt my presence. Not in this form, not in this world, but somewhere. Somewhen."
Rhea whispered, "It met another Raizen."
Sebastian didn't answer.
Because Luna's hand suddenly slid down to grip his fingers.
He looked at her—really looked—and saw it:
She wasn't afraid of him.
She was afraid for him.
She leaned closer. "I don't care how many versions it saw. I don't care what it thinks you are. You're mine to protect."
Something in him softened—just for a breath.
Then the dorm hallway lights flickered.
Every single one.
The Big 8 turned sharply.
Andrea drew an arrow.
Adriel began forming a divine ward.
Kael activated his scanning implants in full override.
Garet leveled his spear.
Sebastian froze.
Not from fear.
From recognition.
The light wasn't flickering.
It was pulsing.
A heartbeat.
Not theirs.
Not the hallway's.
Not the Academy's.
Something from beyond.
Andrea stepped toward the nearest lamp, sensing the mana inside it. "This isn't electrical. It's not magical either."
Rhea whispered, "Then… what's causing it?"
Sebastian blinked slowly, feeling a faint tug behind his ribs—a gravitational pull without force.
"A signal."
Luna's voice cracked with dread. "From the Gate?"
"No," Sebastian said softly.
Kael's eyes widened. "Then from where—?"
Sebastian lifted his head toward the ceiling.
"It's calling me… to check if I survived."
Rhea's jaw dropped. "To check—?"
Andrea lowered her bow with shaking hands. "Like a hunter marking a wounded prey."
"No," Luna whispered.
Her voice trembled with anger rather than fear.
"Like something marking a missing piece."
That silenced the hall.
Because it felt true.
Sebastian didn't deny it.
The lamps pulsed again.
Soft.
Cold.
Perfectly timed.
Three seconds.
Three seconds.
Three seconds.
A scan.
Andrea backed away. "We need to break visual contact. Now."
Luna nodded and pulled Sebastian toward his dorm door.
Kenjie stepped forward instantly. "I'll get the door."
He placed a hand on the biometric plate, letting it read his Academy access.
The door slid open.
The pulsing lights brightened.
Then—
Every lamp shattered.
Glass exploded outward like crystalline rain.
Divine wards collapsed instantly.
Kael's implants overloaded.
Andrea's arrowstring snapped.
Rhea's wind shield flickered out.
Garet was thrown backward into the wall, coughing blood.
The Big 8 shielded Sebastian and Luna on instinct.
But Sebastian—
For the first time all day—
flinched.
Not from the blast.
From the sudden silence afterward.
Because the pulse had stopped.
Not because it ended.
Because it had found what it wanted.
Luna grabbed his face, forcing eye contact.
"What did you feel?"
He swallowed.
"…it confirmed me."
The hallway temperature dropped to freezing.
Andrea whispered, "Confirmed for what?"
Sebastian didn't answer.
Because answering meant acknowledging something he didn't want to face.
Instead, he stepped into his dorm.
Luna followed immediately.
Kenjie hesitated—then stepped in behind them without waiting for permission.
Andrea, Rhea, Kael, Adriel, and even Garet followed next.
Not to invade privacy.
But because they refused to leave him alone in this.
The dorm door slid shut behind them.
And for the first time since the fracture in the sky…
Sebastian Raizen exhaled like a man finally off the battlefield.
He stumbled onto his bed, Luna catching him before he fell sideways.
His eyes half closed.
His voice came out barely audible.
"When I rest… it will return."
Luna leaned close, forehead meeting his.
"Then we watch you."
Andrea stepped forward. "All night."
Kenjie crossed his arms. "All of us."
Rhea sat beside the window. "Shift rotations."
Kael pulled out a portable sensor rig. "I'll monitor dimensional fluctuations."
Adriel knelt and began weaving divine wards around the bed. "I'll sanctify the space."
Garet planted his spear at the door. "No one enters."
Sebastian's eyelashes fluttered as consciousness faded.
The last thing he whispered was not to Luna.
Not to the Big 8.
Not to the Academy.
But to himself.
"…remember me correctly."
Then he fell asleep.
And the moment he did—
The room darkened.
The walls shivered.
The dimensional pressure returned—soft at first, like a hand touching water.
Luna's breath hitched.
Andrea drew her bow.
Kenjie unsheathed his blade.
Rhea summoned wind.
Kael activated sensors.
Garet stepped forward.
Adriel raised divine light.
All of them braced—
As a shadow—thin as a brushstroke, faint as a passing dream—slid across the wall.
Not entering.
Not attacking.
Just… observing.
As if peering through Sebastian's mind while he slept.
Luna reached for his hand.
"Fight it," she whispered.
Then—
Sebastian's fingers twitched.
A whisper escaped his lips.
Not in fear.
Not in pain.
But in recognition.
"…you again…"
And the shadow on the wall shifted—
As if answering him.
The shadow sharpened.
Not like a beast revealing fangs.
Not like a spirit taking shape.
Not like a monster claiming territory.
It sharpened like a memory—one that did not belong to this world, did not belong to this timeline, and did not belong to the sleeping body on the bed…
but belonged to something else wearing Sebastian's outline.
The dorm lights dimmed to a thin, trembling glow.
Kael's sensors flickered from green to red so fast he staggered.
"This—this isn't dimensional pressure," he whispered. "It's… recognition data. Like a scan confirming identity. But not on him—"
He turned slowly toward the shadow.
"—on the thing inside him."
Andrea pulled an arrow of pure mana. "If it takes one step toward him, I'm shooting."
"It won't," Kenjie said, though his blade was already drawn.
His voice was steady.
His heartbeat wasn't.
Rhea positioned herself between the shadow and the bed. "Keep talking. Don't let it shift unnoticed."
Adriel whispered a blessing under his breath. "Light above, guide us…"
The blessing winked out like a candle smothered by fingers.
Adriel choked on his own breath.
"Divinity—won't respond."
"Of course it won't," Luna muttered without looking away from the shadow.
"This thing isn't from a place your gods can see."
Garet tightened his stance at the door, knuckles white around his spear.
"If it wanted to be here physically… it would."
Andrea swallowed.
"So what is that?"
The shadow stretched an inch.
Just an inch.
But it was enough to make the walls groan under the weight of something that wasn't gravity.
The Big 8 closed ranks instantly.
Garet planted his spear firmly, voice low.
"Sebastian. If you can hear us—wake up."
He couldn't.
But the thing listening through him could.
Sebastian's sleeping form twitched again.
Not from discomfort.
Not from nightmares.
But like a sleeper hearing someone call his name in another language.
Luna leaned closer and held his face between her hands.
"Sebastian… stay with us…"
His breath hitched.
His eyelids flickered.
And he whispered—
"…not Sebastian…"
Luna's heart split open.
Adriel dropped to one knee.
Rhea's wind faltered.
Andrea's bowstring shook.
Kael's sensors overloaded.
Garet froze like a statue.
Kenjie was the only one able to speak.
"Then who?"
Sebastian's voice rolled out in two layers.
One human.
One older.
"…not Sebastian here…"
Luna's hands trembled so hard she nearly dropped him.
"Who is speaking?" she whispered.
The shadow on the wall moved again—slow, deliberate, a question in motion.
The voice in Sebastian's throat answered:
"…looking for the rest of me…"
Every soul in the room went cold.
Kenjie's blade glowed from the pressure of his grip.
"What does that mean? What part of you is missing?"
Sebastian's body arched suddenly—just a breath, but the air cracked like a whip.
The shadow grew darker.
"…fragmented…"
Andrea hissed, "Fragmented HOW?"
Sebastian's arm twitched.
His fingers curled.
His expression twisted between two identities.
"…not whole…"
Adriel backed away, face pale and eyes wide.
"He's speaking in convergence syntax—dimensional grammar. This isn't a human voice."
The shadow stretched toward Sebastian's pillow.
Luna reacted instantly—she threw her body over his, shielding him with her entire frame.
"Don't touch him," she growled.
The shadow halted.
Stopped perfectly.
Observing.
Rhea whispered, "Luna… it's listening to you…"
Luna didn't care.
She didn't move.
She didn't breathe.
She held the line.
Sebastian's fingers twitched again—then clenched into her sleeve.
His voice broke out, clearer now, but layered with that same other-self undertone:
"…don't let it take the rest…"
Luna felt her heartbeat freeze.
"Take the rest of WHAT?!" Andrea demanded.
Sebastian's voice answered with a trembling whisper:
"…me…"
The room shook.
Not violently.
Not catastrophically.
But like a book being opened.
Kael raised his scanner in panic. "The shadow is syncing with his mind—trying to read him!"
Kenjie hissed, "Break the sync!"
"No," Andrea snapped. "If we disrupt it wrong, we might tear something in him."
The shadow pulsed.
Soft.
Slow.
Patient.
Sebastian inhaled shakily.
Like the presence had just touched his consciousness again.
"…you again…"
The shadow answered with a movement so subtle only Luna saw it.
It bowed.
Not deeply.
Not respectfully.
But familiarly.
Like greeting an equal.
Sebastian's sleeping eyes moved beneath their lids.
Then he spoke—not as a boy.
Not as a student.
Not as a fighter.
But as someone remembering something far beyond this world.
"…stop searching…"
The shadow froze.
"…not ready…"
Kael stared in horror. "He's giving it instructions."
Sebastian's breath quickened.
The shadow dimmed—like it was pulling back slightly.
"…not now…"
Luna's hand slid to his cheek. "Sebastian—come back."
His fingers clamped around her wrist.
Hard enough to bruise.
"…Luna…"
His eyes opened.
Barely.
But open.
He stared into hers.
No shadow.
No echo.
No second self.
Just Sebastian.
For one breath.
Then—
He jerked violently as if something yanked on his soul.
The shadow stretched across the wall, clawing—not to take him, but to HOLD something in place.
The Big 8 braced.
Andrea's voice shook. "What's happening!?"
Kael's scanners screamed warnings. "It's pulling his resonance—like trying to sync two different identities!"
Adriel's voice trembled. "This is a convergence event—"
Garet cut him off.
"Then stop it!"
They couldn't.
No one could.
Except Sebastian.
Sebastian grasped Luna's hand with all his strength.
"…don't let go…"
"I won't," Luna whispered fiercely.
The shadow twitched.
Sebastian exhaled through his teeth.
"…it's trying to complete me…"
Luna's heart cracked.
"Is that bad?"
His lips parted.
Slowly.
Painfully.
"…yes…"
His voice finally returned to one layer.
"…I'm not him yet…"
The room went silent.
The shadow shivered.
Then—
It withdrew.
Slowly.
Reluctantly.
Like someone closing a door while still looking back.
Sebastian collapsed into Luna's arms the moment the last trace vanished.
No explosion.
No sound.
No shockwave.
Just absence.
Heavy, terrifying absence.
Andrea lowered her bow, hand shaking.
Kenjie sheathed his blade with a trembling breath.
Adriel sank to the floor.
Rhea leaned against the wall.
Kael's scanners rebooted.
Garet swallowed hard.
Luna cupped Sebastian's face.
"Sebastian," she whispered, voice breaking.
"Stay with me. Who were you talking to?"
His eyelids fluttered.
He whispered:
"…a piece of me that never made it here."
Luna froze.
"What did it want?"
Sebastian breathed out.
A whisper.
A prophecy.
A warning.
"…to finish what the true one started…"
Sebastian's body lay still in Luna's arms—too still, the kind of stillness that wasn't rest but recalibration, like his existence was rearranging itself behind closed eyes. The Big 8 surrounded them in suffocating silence, each holding their breath for a different reason.
Andrea checked the corners of the room again, bow half-raised. "It's gone, right? Tell me it's gone."
Kenjie didn't sheath his blade. "Gone isn't the right word."
Rhea swallowed hard. "Then what's the right word—"
Before she finished, the dorm lights flickered a second time.
Everyone froze.
Not shattered this time.
Not pulsed.
Not scanned.
Just flickered—like a whisper brushing past glass.
Andrea raised her bow instantly.
Kenjie tensed.
Kael scrambled for his sensors.
Garet braced his spear.
Luna's heart crashed against her ribs as she pulled Sebastian closer.
"Not again—"
The flicker stopped.
The room steadied.
But something changed.
A shift.
A tremor.
A breath that wasn't theirs.
Adriel whispered, "What was that?"
Kael stared at his scanner with dread. "A ripple."
"Ripple from what?" Rhea demanded.
Kael's throat tightened.
"From outside the Academy."
Everyone froze.
Luna glanced at the windows.
The sky outside was calm.
Too calm.
"What direction?" Kenjie asked.
Kael tapped his sensor, hands trembling. The dial flickered violently before settling on a direction—northeast.
"Coordinates…"
He paused.
His face drained of all color.
"That's the city outskirts."
Garet's grip tightened. "Is it the same presence?"
Kael shook his head slowly.
"No.
Not the presence.
Not the shadow.
Not the fragment looking for him."
Luna felt her breath freeze.
"Then what is it?"
Kael looked at her.
Then at Sebastian.
Then at the scanner again.
"It's the world."
Andrea's voice trembled. "Explain."
"The moment the shadow left," Kael said, "the world reacted. Like it corrected itself. Like it remembered something it forgot."
Rhea frowned. "And what does that mean?"
Kael whispered the words he didn't want to say.
"A Gate signature."
A true silence hit the room.
Not fear.
Not disbelief.
Just raw, crushing reality.
Adriel's eyes widened. "Already…?"
Andrea looked between everyone, voice cracking. "But the Gate earlier—didn't Sebastian stop it?"
"He stopped that one," Kenjie said. "Not all of them."
Luna's hands trembled against Sebastian's cheeks.
He didn't stir.
He didn't wake.
He didn't react.
But the moment the word Gate filled the air, his fingers twitched around Luna's wrist as if responding in instinct.
Kael stared at the scanner helplessly. "The signature is small. Very small. A micro-Gate, maybe. But it's real."
Andrea whispered, "Then this… this is just the beginning."
Sebastian inhaled suddenly—sharp, pained.
Luna jolted. "Sebastian—?"
His breath quickened.
His muscles tensed.
His eyes stayed closed, but his voice tore out in a whisper:
"…too soon…"
Adriel moved closer. "Is he awake?"
"No," Luna said instantly.
She knew the difference.
He wasn't awake.
He was responding.
Sebastian's brow furrowed, jaw tightening as if he were wrestling with something neither physical nor emotional—but conceptual.
"…not yet… it's early… too early…"
Andrea stepped forward. "Sebastian. What's too early? What's coming?"
His breathing changed.
Faster.
Heavier.
Like his lungs were syncing with something far away.
Kenjie cursed. "He's aligning again. With what?"
Kael stared at his scanner.
"It's the Gate signature. His resonance is reacting to it."
The room rattled softly, as if agreeing.
Sebastian's hand suddenly shot upward, grabbing Luna's collar with surprising strength.
His eyes remained shut.
But the voice that came out carried a fear none of them had ever heard from him:
"…it found a crack…"
Luna's heart plummeted.
"A crack in what?!"
Sebastian's breathing slowed again.
"…in reality…"
Kenjie's blade trembled in his hand.
Andrea whispered, "Where?"
Sebastian's grip tightened.
And he forced out a single word:
"…Northeast…"
Kael nearly dropped his scanner.
"That matches the signature."
Rhea staggered back. "Then the Gate—"
Sebastian exhaled weakly, and his grip finally loosened.
Luna lowered him gently back onto the pillow.
But his lips continued moving, the words slipping through like fragments of a dream he couldn't keep contained.
"…first one… opening… too soon…"
Luna's eyes stung.
"Sebastian. Listen to me. We're right here. You're safe."
His head turned slightly toward her voice.
Barely.
"…don't… let me… sleep…"
Luna froze.
Because it wasn't a request.
It was a warning.
Kenjie stepped forward. "Why not?"
Sebastian's voice cracked, faint but desperate.
"…if I sleep too deep… he arrives…"
A cold, collective shiver went through every person in the room.
"Who?" Garet asked.
Sebastian's voice dropped to a whisper.
"…the one on the other side…"
The lights dimmed.
Not from power loss.
From resonance.
The world outside trembled.
Distantly, faintly, like a rumble beneath mountains—
A sound echoed.
Not thunder.
Not a beast.
Something older.
Something waking.
Andrea whispered, "We have to move. Now."
Kenjie nodded. "We need to reach the outskirts."
Adriel tightened his grip on his staff. "And we need to keep him conscious."
Rhea summoned wind. "I'll clear the air paths."
Kael packed his scanners. "I'll track the Gate fluctuations."
Garet lifted his spear. "I'll take point."
Luna didn't move.
She held Sebastian's face in both hands.
"Sebastian," she whispered fiercely, "you stay with me. I don't care what's on the other side. You stay here."
His eyes finally cracked open.
Barely.
Enough for her to see him.
Enough for him to see her.
"…Luna…"
Her breath hitched.
"Yes?"
His voice was hoarse.
"…don't let go…"
Her fingers threaded through his.
"I won't."
And then, from outside the dorm—
A deep, ancient sound rolled across the Academy grounds.
A sound no one in the world had ever heard before.
A Gate beginning to open for real.
A tremor rolled beneath the Academy like a low, ancient growl traveling through the bedrock. Dust drifted from the ceiling. The air thickened with a pressure that wasn't hostile—because hostility required recognition. This was something more terrifying:
Indifference.
The world wasn't reacting to them.
It was reacting to the Gate forming on the outskirts.
Kenjie spun toward the window. "Everyone move. Now."
Andrea snapped her bow into full draw. "We can't go blind. Kael—what's the signature now?"
Kael checked his scanner—the screen vibrated violently, forcing him to stabilize it with both hands.
"Spike rate increasing. It's stabilizing faster than anything predicted. It's—"
He swallowed.
"It's forming properly."
Adriel backed toward the door, voice cracking. "The Conclave will be there. They'll lock everything down. We need to get Raizen out before—"
A loud alarm blared across the Academy, cutting him off.
[DIMENSIONAL EVENT DETECTED.]
[EMERGENCY PROTOCOL: GATEFALL-1 ACTIVATED.]
[ALL STUDENTS REMAIN INDOORS.]
The room shook again—hard enough to make Andrea lose footing for a breath, hard enough for Rhea to brace against the wall, hard enough for Garet to slam his spear into the ground to remain upright.
Sebastian, however—
Did not move.
Did not stir.
Did not wake beyond a half-lidded, glazed awareness.
He wasn't unconscious.
He wasn't awake.
He was in-between.
And something else was pulling him deeper.
Luna leaned over him, forehead pressed to his temple.
"Sebastian. Stay. Here. Don't slip."
He inhaled shakily—like each breath anchored him with diminishing effect.
"…trying…"
Luna tightened her grip on his hand. "Try harder."
His body jerked faintly.
"…he's calling…"
Her voice trembled. "Ignore him."
Sebastian's eyelids fluttered. His voice came out cracked.
"…can't…"
Kenjie, Andrea, Rhea, and Garet all turned sharply at that.
Kenjie stepped forward. "If he's being pulled, then we move him."
Andrea nodded. "We can't leave him here. The energy will spike again if the Gate stabilizes."
Kael gestured at the scanner, voice rising. "It's already stabilizing! We have less than fifteen minutes before full opening!"
Adriel ran a hand through his hair. "Then we have to hurry—"
But Luna didn't move.
She didn't stand.
She didn't let go.
Garet noticed first. "Luna…?"
She didn't turn her head.
Her voice was ice.
"If we move him during resonance, we could break something. Something mental. Something worse."
Andrea hesitated. "So we let him slip into whatever that thing is pulling him into?"
"No." Luna's voice hardened. "We hold him. We hold him here until he wakes."
Kenjie frowned. "And if he can't?"
Luna looked down at Sebastian—really looked at him.
At the boy who always walked steady.
Who never faltered.
Who stood like a pillar while the world trembled.
Except now.
Now he trembled.
"…he will," she whispered.
Sebastian's fingers curled slightly around hers.
The slightest bit of proof.
"You see?" Luna breathed.
Andrea's bow lowered half an inch.
Garet exhaled shakily.
Rhea's shoulders eased.
Kenjie closed his eyes briefly.
But only briefly.
Because another tremor hit.
This one from above.
As if the sky itself inhaled sharply.
The alarm cut out mid-blare.
Lights flickered.
The window glass darkened—automated shielding activating in response to external energy.
Kael's scanner chimed.
He stared at the reading.
Then at the window.
Then back at the reading.
"…oh gods."
Rhea grabbed his shoulder. "What?"
Kael pointed a shaking finger at the scanner display.
"In two minutes… the micro-Gate becomes a full Gate."
Andrea's voice hollowed. "A real one."
Garet's jaw clenched. "Then we don't have time."
Kenjie nodded. "We split. The six of us go ahead and secure the area. Luna stays with—"
"No," Luna said instantly.
Kenjie blinked. "No?"
"You're not leaving us."
Andrea stepped closer. "Luna, if we don't go, the city—"
"I don't care."
Rhea lowered her wind, voice soft. "Luna… we need to protect them."
"If Sebastian goes under, if he loses consciousness," Luna said, voice breaking, "the Gate won't open to the world."
Andrea stiffened. "It'll open to him."
Silence punched the air out of the room.
Kael whispered, "Is that possible…?"
Sebastian answered.
Not with clarity.
Not fully awake.
But with a single, weak exhale:
"…yes…"
Luna shuddered.
Andrea cursed under her breath.
Kenjie tightened his grip on his blade.
Adriel prayed with shaking hands.
Garet pressed the butt of his spear against the floor, grounding himself.
The implications were catastrophic:
If Sebastian slipped too deep—
If the Gate locked onto him instead of the world—
Then whatever was calling him…
…would have a direct path.
Rhea bit her lip hard. "Then we can't let him fall asleep."
Luna nodded.
She cupped Sebastian's face, voice trembling.
"Sebastian. Look at me. Open your eyes."
He tried.
A faint tremor ran through his hand.
"…can't…"
"You can." Her voice cracked. "You have to."
His breathing slowed again.
Dangerously so.
"…Luna… the first Gate…"
"I know," she whispered, leaning closer.
"…opening… too early…"
"I know."
"…not… ready…"
"I know. But you're not leaving."
His fingers tightened painfully around hers.
"…if I slip… he…"
Luna pressed her forehead against his.
"I won't let go."
Something in the air shifted again.
But this time, it wasn't pressure.
Or presence.
Or a shadow.
It was resonance.
A deep, humming, reality-thickening resonance that came not from Sebastian…
…but from outside.
Andrea ran to the window and slammed her palm against the shielding override.
The system resisted—but she forced it open enough to reveal the sky.
Rhea gasped.
Kael staggered.
Adriel dropped his staff.
Kenjie cursed.
Garet's eyes widened.
Luna didn't turn.
She refused to look away from Sebastian.
But the others saw it:
A swirling vortex of light in the distance, tearing open the horizon.
A ring.
A circle.
A Gate.
Forming fully.
Visibly.
Violently.
And from the depths of that circle—
Something pressed outward.
Slowly.
Hungrily.
Andrea whispered, "This Gate… this Gate is wrong."
Adriel nodded numbly. "It's not opening from our side…"
Kael finished the sentence in horror.
"…it's being opened for something."
The room chilled.
Luna's breath hitched.
Sebastian whispered the truth:
"…it's the anchor…"
Kael froze. "The what?"
"…it's anchoring itself… to step through…"
Garet stepped forward. "Then what's stepping through?"
Sebastian's eyes opened.
Barely.
But enough.
He stared straight through Luna's shoulder.
Straight toward the direction of the Gate.
And whispered one word:
"…him…"
The Gate outside flared with ancient light—
The first true Gate in the continent's history—
opening fully.