The mist shifted again.
Colder.Darker.Quieter.
Rafe stepped into the new layer, and the world changed instantly.
The ground beneath him became smooth stone, cold enough to bite through the soles of his feet. The air smelled faintly of something sweet—almost like flowers—but underneath it was something metallic. Something wrong.
He knew immediately:
This was Lyn's Path.
Rafe walked forward slowly.
"Lyn… I'm coming."
But no voice answered.
No sound echoed.
Not even the faint hum the Path usually carried.
Just silence.
Absolute and crushing.
Then Rafe noticed something odd.
There were no shadows.
Despite the darkness.Despite the mist.Despite the dim, pale glow everywhere…
There were no shadows.
Nothing in the world cast one.
And that made him uneasy.
He took another step—
And heard something.
A soft, rhythmic sound.
Breathing.
He turned the corner formed by a bend in the mist, and his heart stuttered.
There she was.
Lyn sat on the stone floor, hugging her knees tightly, staring ahead with wide, glassy eyes. Her hair fell over her face, and her fingers were white from gripping her legs too hard.
Her chest rose and fell far too quickly.
Rafe sprinted toward her.
"Lyn! Lyn—are you oka—"
He froze mid-step.
Not because she reacted.
But because she didn't.
She didn't blink.She didn't turn her head.She didn't acknowledge him.
She breathed, stared, trembled—
But she did not hear him.
Rafe stepped closer.
"Lyn…?"
Still nothing.
The Path whispered—softly, almost gently:
"She cannot hear you."
Rafe clenched his jaw.
"Why?"
"Because her fear is not the past.""It is silence."
Rafe frowned.
Silence?
The mist thickened behind Lyn.
And then—He realized it wasn't mist.
It was darkness.
A sphere of absolute void behind her—no light, no depth, no sound. It pulsed like a heart, drawing in warmth, color, life.
Lyn trembled harder every time it pulsed.
She whispered something.
Barely audible.
"…don't take me…"
Rafe's blood ran cold.
"What is that?!"
The Path answered:
"The place she came from."
Rafe felt a chill.
"…Came from? She lived in an orphanage."
The Path responded immediately:
"Before that."
Rafe's breath caught.
"What happened before?!"
"She does not know.""She was too young.""But her soul remembers."
Lyn suddenly gasped, grip tightening on her legs.
"Don't take me… don't take me…"
The void pulsed—louder.Stronger.Closer.
Rafe tried to run to her.
The world warped.
Every step he took stretched into a hundred.His voice echoed and disappeared.His hand blurred, fading before reaching her.
He wasn't far.
The Path simply made it impossible.
"Let me through!"
"She must face what hunts her."
"Hunts her?!"
"Yes."
The void pulsed again—this time extending tendrils of darkness that slithered along the floor toward Lyn.
She whimpered.Small.Terrified.Breaking.
"No… no… please…"
Rafe fought the warped distance with everything he had, pushing forward as if wading through water thick as tar.
"LYN! LOOK AT ME!"
She didn't.
Couldn't.
The void touched her ankle.
Lyn screamed—
A small, raw, terrified sound Rafe had never heard from her before.
The darkness crawled up her leg—slow, deliberate, claiming.
"NO!" Rafe roared. "LEAVE HER ALONE!"
He lunged forward—
And slammed into something invisible.
A barrier.
He pounded on it with his fists.
"LET. ME. IN!"
The Path whispered again.
"She must choose."
"Choose what?!"
"To step back… or be consumed."
Rafe shook his head fiercely.
"She's just a kid!"
"Fear does not care for age."
The void climbed to her knee.
Lyn sobbed, pressing her forehead into her arms.
"Stop… please stop… don't take me again…"
Rafe froze.
"…again?"
His heart dropped.
The void pulsed.
Lyn lifted her head slightly—
And for the first time, Rafe saw her eyes.
They were glowing faintly.
Not white.Not gold.
Something purer.Older.
A shade of Light Mana he had never seen.
And they were filled with terror.
"I don't want to disappear…" she whispered. "I don't want to disappear…"
The void reached her waist.
Rafe slammed the barrier with his shoulder until his bones ached.
"LYN! PLEASE!"
She didn't react.
She couldn't.
The world was silent.
The Path whispered:
"If she lets the void touch her heart, she will vanish."
Rafe trembled.
"WHAT DO I DO?!"
"Nothing."
"No!"
"This is her fear.""Her truth.""Her battle."
Rafe pressed his forehead against the barrier.
His hands trembled.
"Lyn… you're not alone…"
The void reached her chest.
She gasped—weak, fading.
Rafe whispered, voice shaking:
"Lyn… please… live…"
Her eyes moved.
Barely.
Toward him.
A tiny spark lit inside them.
Small.Fragile.But real.
And she whispered one final word:
"…Rafe…"
The void paused.
Stopped.
Trembled.
Then—
Light exploded from her chest.
Pure.Blinding.Primordial.
The void shrieked without sound, recoiling violently. Cracks of light burst across it like a shattered mirror.
It collapsed inward—
And vanished.
Lyn collapsed forward, panting, shaking violently.
The barrier dissolved.
Rafe sprinted to her and caught her before she hit the ground.
"Lyn! Hey—HEY! Look at me!"
She clung to his shirt with desperate strength.
"I… I didn't disappear…"
"You didn't," Rafe whispered. "You're here. You're with us. With me."
She buried her face in his chest and sobbed.
The Path whispered one last time:
"She has crossed the void.""The three have walked their truths.""Now turn… and face what waits for him."
Rafe lifted his head.
Another door appeared in the darkness.
Black.
Tall.
Covered in runes he had never seen.
This door wasn't for Mara.Not for Lyn.
It was for him.
Something waited behind it.
Something the Path had kept hidden until all three trials were complete.
Rafe held Lyn tightly, but his eyes were locked on the door.
He exhaled.
"…It's not over."