The purple light swirled like a whirlpool with no surface. Hana felt her body floating yet she wasn't falling. It was more like reality itself was questioning her existence.
The first "floor" they stepped on wasn't earth. Wasn't stone. Wasn't air.
It was something that changed every second sometimes like sand, sometimes like water, sometimes like strands of time woven into matter.
Hana gaped.
"Big Bro… where are we?"
The Great Ancestor scanned the surroundings, his face unreadable yet the tension around him was unmistakable.
"In the Middle Time."
Hana frowned.
"This place looks like an abstract artist's worst nightmare."
"That's because this isn't a place," the Great Ancestor replied.
"It's a mistake."
Hana whispered, "…Big Bro, may I panic?"
"No."
"…Okay, I'll panic internally."
Hana hugged herself.
The Breathing Wall.
Something appeared ahead of them like a building, though not quite a building.
Sometimes it resembled a massive gate.
Sometimes a long corridor.
Sometimes… a face.
Hana's eyes widened.
"Big Bro that that looked like a face?!"
"Leave it," the Great Ancestor said softly.
"That's not a face."
Hana hissed, "Yeah obviously, but it looks EVIL!"
The structure breathed expanding and contracting with a low groan, like the world itself was complaining.
From afar, faint echoes rose footsteps from both the past and the future.
Hana clutched the Great Ancestor's arm.
"Big Bro… I feel like this place is remembering something."
The Great Ancestor turned slightly.
"That's because the Middle Time stores everything history didn't have time to write."
"…Including Him?"
The Great Ancestor didn't answer. And his silence was the most terrifying answer of all.
The First Trace.
They stepped inside.
Just past the threshold, Hana saw something on the wall not a carving, not a drawing.
A trace.
As if someone had once touched the wall, leaving behind a soft white glow… edged with darkness.
Hana leaned in.
"Big Bro… what is this?"
The Great Ancestor stared at the trace for a long time.
"That… is the mark of His presence."
Hana jumped back two steps.
"This is from Him?! Why is it still here?Didn't"
"Because He never disappeared," the Great Ancestor said coldly.
"He merely sleeps."
Hana swallowed. "…Big Bro, I am not comfortable."
"Stay close to me."
Hana nodded fast.
Ownerless Whispers.
As they walked deeper, whispers filled the air.
Not any language of any creature.
More like… concepts.
Ideas that breathed.
Thoughts from the dawn of creation.
The voices murmured:
"…return…"
"…not your time…"
"…lost light…"
Hana covered her ears.
"Big Bro! Whose voices are these?!"
"No one's," the Great Ancestor replied.
"They're voices formed from the world's memories."
"…Big Bro, even your explanation is terrifying."
THE SHADOW THAT WAITS.
When they reached the second room its shape shifting with every step a silhouette stood in the center.
Black.
Tall.
Long.
But not a body.
More like the projection of something trying to manifest.
Hana trembled.
"Big Bro… what is that?"
The Great Ancestor stepped forward, alert.
"That is not Him."
Hana exhaled in relief.
"Oh thank goodness, I thought"
"That is a memory of Him."
Hana turned pale again.
"Big Bro"
"I'm here," said the Great Ancestor.
The shadow moved slowly, aware of guests entering its territory.
Hana held her breath.
The silhouette shifted size and form sometimes human, sometimes shards of dark stars, sometimes… something impossible.
Hana clung to the Great Ancestor's arm.
"It's… talking, Big Bro. I hear something"
"Ignore it. It's not meant to be heard."
"But it said my name"
"It doesn't know your name."
Hana blinked at him.
"But I swear it said 'Hana'"
The Great Ancestor glared at the shadow with a coldness that could cut stone.
"It wasn't calling you," he said.
"It was calling the light inside you."
Hana froze mouth open, no sound coming out.
The shadow stopped.
Then it bowed.
As if acknowledging something greater than them both.
The Great Ancestor gently pulled Hana behind him.
"This is not a place to linger," he said.
"This is only the outskirts."
Hana stared.
"THE OUTSKIRTS?! Big Bro if the outskirts look like THIS"
"I know."
The shadow shifted again this time like it intended to approach.
The Great Ancestor raised his hand, and the purple light around them trembled.
The shadow halted as if a force held it in place.
Hana bit her lip.
"Big Bro… what are we looking for here?"
The Great Ancestor stared into the twisting, dark corridor ahead like gazing into his own thoughts.
"We're looking for an answer."
"An answer to what?"
He finally turned to Hana his eyes heavy, deep, and honest for the first time.
"Why He targeted you first."
Hana said nothing.
For the first time since entering this place,
her fear wasn't from what she saw but from what she was about to learn.
The Great Ancestor looked toward the dark path.
"From here on… each step brings us closer to Him."
"And farther from any place we can return to."
Hana took his hand.
"…I'm coming. To the end."
The Great Ancestor paused, then nodded.
They stepped forward.
And the Middle Time closed behind them slowly, like a mouth swallowing a secret.