Reality returned violently.
Ayan stumbled backward as the vision shattered around him. The valley reappeared. The fortress walls. The silver fracture. The impossible city hanging beyond reality.
Everything returned.
Yet something had changed.
His breathing felt uneven.
His heartbeat was too fast.
And the bridge—
The bridge wouldn't stop reacting.
Black and crimson energy continued flowing beneath his skin like living veins of light. The sensation was becoming increasingly difficult to control.
Aelira immediately noticed.
She grabbed his shoulder before he could lose balance.
"What happened?"
The question reached him as if from far away.
For several moments, Ayan couldn't answer.
The image remained burned into his mind.
The city.
The tower.
The man standing beneath the black sky.
Most importantly—
His words.
I've waited a very long time.
The memory sent another chill through his body.
Lucien saw the expression on his face and immediately understood.
The silver-haired man's eyes narrowed.
"He spoke to you."
It wasn't a question.
Ayan slowly nodded.
The atmosphere inside the valley changed instantly.
Even Seraphine's expression darkened.
Nobody looked surprised.
Only worried.
Which somehow felt worse.
The realization settled heavily inside Ayan's chest.
They expected this.
Not necessarily the exact conversation.
But the contact itself.
The king speaking directly to him.
The bridge pulsed again.
A sharp wave of pressure rolled across the valley.
The silver fracture trembled.
The city beyond it flickered momentarily.
Then stabilized.
Lucien cursed quietly.
The sound immediately captured everyone's attention.
Ancient beings weren't supposed to sound nervous.
Lucien sounded nervous.
Very nervous.
"What did he say?" Aelira asked.
Ayan remained silent for several seconds.
Then answered honestly.
"He said he was waiting."
Nobody spoke.
The heartbeat beyond reality returned.
BOOM.
The mountains trembled.
BOOM.
The fortress walls groaned.
BOOM.
The city beyond the fracture brightened.
Each pulse felt stronger than before.
Closer.
As though something enormous was slowly approaching from a great distance.
Lucien looked toward the tower.
The silver-haired man's expression had become increasingly grim.
"The connection is stabilizing."
The statement immediately drew Ayan's attention.
"Connection?"
Lucien nodded.
"The bridge."
His gaze shifted toward Ayan.
"The king shouldn't have been able to locate you this quickly."
The bridge reacted.
Almost defensively.
As if it disliked the conversation.
Lucien noticed.
Of course he did.
He seemed to notice everything.
"The bridge recognizes him."
The answer surprised everyone.
Including Ayan.
Recognition implied familiarity.
History.
Connection.
The idea bothered him.
Because he had never met the king before.
At least—
Not consciously.
A disturbing possibility emerged.
The bridge had existed long before Ayan.
The project that created him wasn't truly the beginning.
Only the latest attempt.
If the bridge remembered something—
That memory might not belong to him at all.
The realization made his stomach tighten.
The city beyond the fracture shifted again.
This time everyone saw it.
The frozen citizens standing throughout the streets slowly turned.
Not toward the tower.
Toward Ayan.
Thousands of motionless figures.
All facing the same direction.
The sight sent a wave of panic through the gathered refugees.
Several screamed.
Others fled the walls entirely.
Nobody wanted to remain near the fracture anymore.
Ayan couldn't blame them.
The city felt less like a place and more like a living thing.
A massive organism pretending to be civilization.
The bridge pulsed harder.
The heartbeat answered.
BOOM.
The black sky above the city cracked.
Thin silver fractures spread across the darkness.
For a brief moment, something became visible beyond them.
A gigantic structure.
Ancient.
Impossible.
Stretching endlessly beyond sight.
Then the vision disappeared.
Ayan froze.
The image felt familiar.
Not because he recognized it.
Because the bridge did.
The realization struck him immediately.
The bridge wasn't reacting to the king.
It was reacting to that place.
The city.
The tower.
The thing hidden beyond the black sky.
All of it connected to the bridge's original purpose.
Lucien followed his gaze.
The silver-haired man's expression darkened even further.
"You saw it."
Ayan nodded slowly.
"What was that?"
Nobody answered immediately.
Even Seraphine remained silent.
The hesitation alone revealed enough.
The answer was dangerous.
Very dangerous.
Eventually, Lucien exhaled.
"The First Gate."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
The bridge exploded with energy.
Ayan nearly doubled over.
Pain shot through his entire body.
Fragments of memory flashed before his eyes.
Ancient laboratories.
Broken worlds.
Crimson skies.
Countless voices repeating the same phrase.
Open the gate.
Open the gate.
Open the gate.
The vision vanished.
Ayan staggered.
Aelira immediately supported him.
The concern in her eyes was obvious now.
She wasn't even trying to hide it anymore.
The bridge slowly stabilized.
The pain faded.
The fear remained.
Because the fragments felt real.
Too real.
Lucien watched quietly.
Almost sadly.
"The bridge remembers."
Ayan hated hearing that.
The bridge wasn't supposed to remember things.
It was power.
A tool.
An anomaly.
Not a living archive.
Yet every day seemed determined to prove him wrong.
The heartbeat returned.
BOOOOOOM.
This time the entire valley shook.
Large cracks spread through the ground beneath the fortress.
The silver fracture widened noticeably.
Gasps spread among the remaining refugees.
The city beyond it appeared clearer now.
Closer.
As though the distance separating realities was shrinking.
Lucien immediately stepped forward.
For the first time since arriving, urgency appeared in his movements.
"That's bad."
Nobody liked hearing those words.
Especially from him.
The silver-haired man raised one hand.
Silver light spread across his fingers.
The fracture responded instantly.
Its expansion slowed.
But didn't stop.
Lucien's expression hardened.
"Very bad."
Ayan looked toward him.
"What happens if the fracture fully opens?"
Nobody answered.
Not immediately.
Because everyone already knew.
The silence itself became the answer.
The city wasn't trapped.
The city was contained.
There was a difference.
A huge difference.
Seraphine finally spoke.
Her voice sounded quieter than before.
"If the fracture fully opens..."
She looked toward the city.
Toward the tower.
Toward the black sky beyond it.
"...the king comes back."
The valley became silent.
No heartbeat.
No wind.
No voices.
Nothing.
Just those words.
The king comes back.
Ayan felt cold spread through his chest.
Not because of fear.
Because of certainty.
Everything happening since the beginning of Volume Two suddenly made sense.
The disappearing cities.
The erased memories.
Reality correction.
The bridge's reactions.
The giant silhouette beyond the sky.
The king wasn't waking up.
The king was returning.
Slowly.
Patiently.
Piece by piece.
And somehow—
The bridge was the key.
The realization settled heavily in his mind.
Then something happened.
The tower inside the city moved.
Not physically.
Conceptually.
The structure seemed to shift despite remaining perfectly still.
Every person in the valley felt it.
The black sky cracked further.
The heartbeat returned.
BOOOOOOOOOOM.
A voice echoed across reality.
Not through sound.
Not through air.
Through existence itself.
Everyone heard it.
Every refugee.
Every guard.
Every survivor.
Every living thing in the valley.
The words were calm.
Gentle.
Almost kind.
And that made them infinitely more terrifying.
"Welcome home."
The city lights ignited all at once.
Millions of silver lights spread through the streets beyond the fracture.
The frozen citizens smiled.
And somewhere inside the tower—
Something began walking toward the door.