The air itself felt heavier. Je's chest rose and fell in sharp, uneven gasps as the invisible weight pressed down on him.
[System… Stabilization Attempt #3… Failed.]
The voice cracked, not with weakness—but with fear.
Then came the sound.
A rattle. Like iron dragged across stone. But there was no iron, no stone—only the suffocating black pressing against his vision.
And yet Je knew.
He was hearing the chains.
The very ones he had glimpsed in his fractured visions.
A cold realization sank in: they were not symbols. They were real. And they were moving.
[Warning: Dimensional Anchor Breach — 0.1%]
The system's voice dissolved into static before continuing, slower this time, as though something forced it to speak against its will.
> "If they break… the door opens."
The whisper from before—ancient, mocking—slithered into his mind again.
> "Every lock rusts, every seal weakens. And every 'system'… eventually falls."
Je's vision blurred, not from exhaustion, but from a pressure that did not belong to this world. He staggered back, yet the shadows followed his step like hungry beasts.
The system fought to speak once more, words fractured.
[Je… never… Void of… De—]
The voice cut off entirely.
And in that moment, Je realized he was truly alone.
Not even the system could protect him.
---