The climb back from the Catacomb Arc wasn't silent.
It was haunted.
Not by ghosts or machines—but by Kael's own steps echoing against memory-soaked walls. Every corridor felt thinner. Every turn twisted slightly wrong, like the Vault itself had been rewritten while they were gone.
Aila watched him closely.
He wasn't limping. He wasn't speaking. He wasn't even thinking aloud like he sometimes did when puzzles were clicking into place. He was just... absorbing.
She didn't like it.
"You okay?" she finally asked.
Kael blinked, like he had to remember which version of himself she was talking to.
"No," he said. "But I know what we need to do."
Oran, trudging behind them, groaned. "I hate when he says that."
---
They returned to the upper tower through a bypass Kael hadn't remembered until now—a collapsed segment that shouldn't exist, except it did. Just like the vision. Just like the boy.
