Falling.
No ground. No sky. Just a vast, soundless void that swallowed everything. Ezra's stomach lurched as the world twisted around him—or maybe he was the one twisting.
He braced for impact.
But there was none.
Instead, the nothingness simply… stopped.
Ezra hit solid ground, but there was no pain. No jolt of force. Just the sudden, unsettling realization that he was standing.
The mirrors were gone.The corridor was gone.
And he was somewhere else.
Ezra's breath was steady, but his pulse was hammering. The air was thick, humming with a pressure that didn't belong in any normal space. The sky—if it could even be called that—was an expanse of dark, shifting color, like oil floating on water.
And ahead of him, at the center of this impossible place, stood a table.
A single wooden table, ancient and worn, its edges blackened as if it had been burned. Two chairs sat on either side.
And waiting in one of them was a figure.
Not the man who had pulled him through the mirror.
Someone else.
Something else.
Ezra's throat tightened as he stepped closer. The figure sat perfectly still, its form humanoid, but wrong.
A suit, dark and immaculately tailored. Hands folded neatly on the table. But the face—
There wasn't one.
No features. No eyes. Just the suggestion of a face, as if the idea of it had been sketched but never completed.
When it spoke, the voice was smooth. Polished. A sound that slid into the mind like a blade wrapped in silk.
'Sit, Mr. Lockwood'
Ezra didn't move. "You know my name."
The faceless man tilted his head slightly. "Of course."
Ezra glanced around. No doors. No exits. Just the table, the chairs, and the thing waiting for him.
No way out.
He exhaled through his nose and stepped forward, lowering himself into the chair across from the figure, The wood creaked beneath his weight.
"Where am I?" Ezra asked.
The faceless man steepled his fingers. "Somewhere outside of where you were."
Ezra's jaw tensed. "That's not an answer."
The faceless man chuckled. "Neither was your question."
Ezra clenched his fists beneath the table. "You pulled me here for a reason. Get to it."
A pause. Then the faceless man leaned forward slightly.
"I have a proposal."
Ezra's stomach tightened. "I don't make deals with things I don't understand."
"You already have," the man said "You spoke the name."
A sharp chill ran through Ezra's spine.
The name. The one he had read in The Hidden Laws. The one that had appeared without warning.
The one that had known him.
Ezra's voice was steady, but careful. "What happens if I say no?"
The faceless man smiled. Or at least, Ezra thought he did. He couldn't see a mouth. But he felt it.
"You already know the answer to that."
Ezra exhaled slowly. "Tell me the deal."
The man tapped a single finger against the table. The wood beneath his touch darkened, like ink seeping into the grain.
"There are doors in this world, Mr. Lockwood. Some remain locked. Some are opened by mistake. And some require…" A pause. "A key."
Ezra narrowed his eyes. "And you think I'm a key?"
"You are becoming one."
Something about those words made Ezra's skin crawl.
"Help me," the faceless man continued, "and I will help you. Knowledge in exchange for knowledge. Understanding in exchange for understanding."
Ezra's fingers tapped against the armrest. "And if I refuse?"
The air seemed to shift, the weight of the place pressing in tighter.
"You are already inside the door, Mr. Lockwood," the faceless man murmured. "The only choice left is how far you step through."
Ezra inhaled sharply. He had always chased the truth. But this?
This wasn't just truth.
This was something else.
Something far more dangerous.
Still, his mind raced. He needed answers. And right now, this thing had them.
Ezra exhaled, slow and controlled.Then, after a long moment—
He nodded.
The faceless man leaned back, satisfied.
"Good"
The world shifted.
And Ezra fell through the cracks.