Kai stared at Adrian like he had lost his mind.
"Interesting?"
Adrian looked back, calm despite the sweat still clinging to his skin. "What?"
"We just met a nightmare made of shadows and your response is interesting?"
Adrian shrugged. "Panic seemed less productive."
Kai opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Then muttered, "I'm surrounded by lunatics."
For the first time in a long while, Adrian laughed.
Briefly.
But the sound faded fast.
Because Veyr wasn't laughing.
He looked troubled.
More than troubled.
Uneasy.
Adrian noticed.
That unsettled him far more than the Keeper.
"What aren't you saying?" Adrian asked.
Veyr was silent for a long moment.
Then he said, "Keepers do not appear."
Kai stiffened.
Adrian frowned. "I just saw one."
"No," Veyr said quietly. "You saw something impossible."
Silence followed.
Adrian's pulse slowed into something colder.
"What does that mean?"
Veyr turned away for a moment, as if deciding whether to speak.
Then—
"Keepers are bound to the deep structure of the bond network. They do not cross into physical planes."
Kai's expression darkened.
"…Unless something has broken."
Veyr nodded.
Adrian folded his arms. "You keep saying things in ways designed to sound ominous."
Veyr met his eyes.
"Because they are."
That killed the sarcasm.
Adrian looked at his wrist.
The mark was still calm.
But now it felt heavier.
Like he was aware of something underneath it.
Watching back.
He hated that feeling.
Kai pushed off the pillar. "Alright. Explain from the beginning."
Veyr stepped into the center of the arena.
For once—
He looked less like a mentor…
And more like someone remembering a wound.
"There are entities tied to living bonds," he began.
"Most are instincts. Echoes. Fragments."
Adrian thought of the thing in the chamber.
The hunter.
Then Veyr continued.
"But Keepers…"
A pause.
"They govern."
Kai went still.
Adrian's jaw tightened slightly.
Govern.
That sounded worse.
"They maintain balance in bonded systems," Veyr said. "They preserve structure."
Adrian frowned.
"So why is one stalking me?"
Veyr answered too quickly.
"Because you're destabilizing something."
Silence.
That hit harder than expected.
Adrian looked away.
He had been so focused on resisting the bond—
He hadn't considered what resisting might affect.
Kai crossed his arms.
"…And if a Keeper comes after someone?"
Veyr hesitated.
Then—
"It usually means correction."
Adrian looked back sharply.
"Correction?"
The word felt wrong.
Cold.
Veyr held his gaze.
"It means the system removes what threatens it."
Kai swore under his breath.
Adrian felt his stomach turn.
For a moment—
No one spoke.
Then Adrian forced a breath.
"…So I'm being hunted by cosmic maintenance."
Kai blinked.
Despite everything—
A laugh escaped him.
Even Veyr almost smiled.
Almost.
But the tension didn't break.
It only bent.
Adrian walked toward the arena's center again.
Slowly.
Thinking.
Then he stopped.
"…It recognized me."
Kai nodded reluctantly.
"It said it found you."
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
"Which means it was looking."
Veyr didn't deny it.
That made something click.
Adrian turned.
"If it can look for me…"
A pause.
"…I can look for it."
Kai stared.
"No."
Adrian ignored him.
"We've been reacting the whole time."
He paced now.
Thinking aloud.
"First the bond moved.
Then the hunter.
Now the Keeper."
He stopped.
"…What if we stop waiting?"
Kai stepped forward.
"You want to hunt a Keeper."
Adrian smirked faintly.
"When you say it like that, it sounds irresponsible."
"It is irresponsible."
Veyr's voice cut through.
And for once—
There was steel in it.
"You do not pursue a Keeper."
Adrian met his eyes.
"Then how do I stop one?"
Silence.
Veyr had no immediate answer.
And that was answer enough.
Kai noticed too.
"…You don't know."
Veyr said nothing.
Adrian exhaled.
Then nodded once.
Decision forming.
Dangerous.
Quiet.
Real.
"Then we find out."
Kai looked ready to argue again—
When the mark on Adrian's wrist pulsed.
Once.
Twice.
Then—
An image slammed into Adrian's mind.
He gasped and stumbled.
Kai caught him again.
"What now?!"
Adrian's breathing went ragged.
His eyes wide.
He had seen—
A black gate.
Endless pillars.
And something enormous moving behind them.
Watching.
Waiting.
He clutched his wrist.
Kai shook him lightly.
"Adrian!"
Adrian blinked hard.
The vision broke.
Gone.
But not forgotten.
Veyr's face had gone pale.
He knew.
"What did you see?" Kai demanded.
Adrian looked up slowly.
"…A place."
Veyr whispered before he could continue.
"The Threshold."
Kai turned sharply.
"The what?"
Veyr looked almost horrified.
"No one sees the Threshold unless…"
He stopped.
Adrian finished for him.
"…Unless the Keeper wants me to."
Silence.
Heavy.
Terrible.
Then Adrian straightened.
Shaken.
But focused.
A new fire in his eyes.
"It showed me a door."
Kai frowned.
"You sound way too calm about this."
Adrian's lips curved faintly.
"Because doors go both ways."
Kai looked at him in disbelief.
Veyr, however—
For the first time—
Looked worried Adrian might actually try it.
And maybe worse—
Succeed.
Far beyond them, in a place of pillars and living dark—
Something watched the bond pulse.
And waited.
Because Adrian had been noticed.
Marked.
Invited.
And some invitations were really summons.