The road into the hills grew narrow, twisting between tall stones that leaned together like ancient listeners. Moss covered most of them, but here and there faint markings showed through—old carvings worn by centuries of wind.
Lysa traced one with her fingers as they passed.
"Someone used to travel here a lot."
Eris slowed. "You can read it?"
"Not read," she said. "Feel. It's like… directions carved by people who expected the land to move."
Eris nodded quietly. That made sense in a world where reality sometimes shifted.
They reached the top of the ridge near midday.
From there, the land opened wide.
Rivers threading through forests. A distant lake reflecting the pale sky. And far beyond it all—
Mountains.
Tall enough to cut the clouds.
Lysa whistled softly. "Please don't tell me we're walking all the way there."
"We might have to."
She groaned. "I knew befriending the mysterious traveler would involve hiking."
Eris was about to answer when something caught his eye.
Half buried under a flat stone beside the path.
Paper.
Old, but not rotted.
He knelt and carefully pulled it free.
It was a map.
But not like any map he had seen before.
The paper was marked with shifting lines that seemed to move when he blinked—roads appearing and fading, rivers bending into different shapes depending on how the light hit them.
Lysa crouched beside him.
"Okay… that's definitely not normal."
Eris unfolded it fully.
The map wasn't of the land.
It was of possibilities.
Places flickered on and off the page like uncertain thoughts. Some were labeled in faded ink. Others were just symbols.
And near the center—
A small golden mark glowed faintly.
Right where they stood.
Lysa stared. "Tell me that's not tracking you."
"It probably is."
"Great."
Eris scanned the rest of the map.
Then he froze.
Another mark had appeared.
Far to the east.
Not golden.
Colorless.
A hollow circle drawn with thin lines that barely touched the paper.
The same absence they had seen in the valley.
Lysa leaned closer. "That's… another tear, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"And it's moving."
Eris watched the circle drift slowly across the map, sliding toward clusters of other symbols—towns, roads, unknown markers.
"It's searching," he said quietly.
"For what?"
Eris looked at the glowing mark that represented him.
"For me."
Lysa leaned back on her hands and stared at the sky.
"You know… yesterday my biggest concern was whether Mara would make me help clean the inn again."
"And today?"
"Today the universe is apparently hunting you with holes in reality."
Eris folded the map carefully.
Lysa tilted her head. "So what's the plan now, fearless leader?"
He looked east.
Toward the moving void on the map.
"We reach it first."
She blinked.
"Wait… what?"
"If it keeps probing places like the valley, it'll erase something eventually. A town. A city."
"And your solution is to run toward it?"
"Yes."
Lysa stood slowly.
Then she sighed.
"Alright," she said. "But when we survive this, I'm demanding a very long break somewhere that obeys normal physics."
Eris smiled faintly.
They started walking again.
Behind them, the golden mark on the map pulsed once.
Ahead of them, the hollow circle drifted closer.
And far beyond the mountains—
Something vast adjusted its attention.
The game of existence had begun to change.