The villagers did not cheer at first.
They stared.
Dust still floated through the ruined market like a fading memory of violence. Splintered wood, cracked stone, broken stalls the cost of survival lay scattered around Harun's feet.
For a few long seconds, no one moved.
Then someone stepped forward.
An old woman.
She lowered herself to her knees.
"Thank you…"
The word trembled.
It was not loud.
But it was enough.
Others followed.
One by one.
Men.
Women.
Children.
They surrounded him slowly, not aggressively — but with fragile reverence. Relief cracked their fear. Gratitude flooded through them all at once.
"You saved us…"
"You really kept your promise…"
"You protected the village…"
Harun stood there, breathing steady but heavy. The spiraling aura around his arm had fully dimmed now, leaving only a faint glow at his right shoulder.
The Dravillian stone pulsed once.
Softly.
His vision blurred.
He swayed slightly.
Aqsa pushed through the crowd.
"Big bro?"
He tried to respond.
His lips moved.
Nothing came out.
The villagers' voices began blending together into distant noise.
The ruined market tilted sideways.
His knees buckled.
And before anyone could catch him—
Darkness swallowed everything.
There was no ground.
No sky.
No wind.
No sound.
Harun stood in absolute blackness.
Not night.
Not shadow.
Not absence of light.
This was something deeper.
It felt endless.
He looked around.
"…You have got to be kidding me."
His voice echoed strangely — not outward, but inward. As if the darkness absorbed sound instead of reflecting it.
"Where am I now?"
He rubbed the back of his head.
"I pass out for five minutes and suddenly I'm in another dimension?"
No answer.
He squinted into the darkness.
"Hello?"
Silence.
"Seriously?"
A faint sensation brushed against his mind.
Like something observing him.
Then.
A voice.
Female.
Calm.
Amused.
"So… you finally arrived."
Harun froze.
"Nope."
He turned slowly.
"Who's there?"
The voice did not come from a direction.
It came from everywhere.
"Idiot."
His eye twitched.
"Excuse me?"
"You took long enough."
"Hey," he snapped, "my day has already been terrible. Don't start."
A faint shimmer appeared in the darkness ahead.
Small at first.
Like a star flickering into existence.
It grew slowly, unfolding into a soft white radiance.
Not blinding.
Not harsh.
Gentle.
But impossibly pure.
Harun narrowed his eyes.
"…Wait."
Recognition flickered in his mind.
"That whisper."
The courtroom.
The warning.
The guidance.
"You're the one who kept helping me."
The light pulsed once in response.
"You are slower than I expected."
"Okay, wow," he muttered. "No need to insult me in my own hallucination."
"This is not a hallucination."
The tone shifted slightly.
More serious now.
"This space exists between your consciousness and the Dravillian resonance."
Harun blinked.
"Between my what and what?"
There was a pause.
"…We do not have time for you to be this dense."
"Hey!"
The light brightened slightly.
"I know the doubts running through your mind."
His expression changed.
"The masked man."
"The evaluation."
"Your sudden increase in power."
"And the relocation of your stone."
His hand instinctively moved to his right shoulder.
Even here, in this void, he could faintly feel it.
"…Yeah," he said quietly. "Care to explain?"
The light dimmed slightly, as if considering its words.
"The one who attacked your village was not there for you."
Harun's brows furrowed.
"What?"
"The statement he made — about evolution beginning — was not about your importance."
He felt something tighten in his chest.
"…Then what was it about?"
"He was searching."
"For something essential to his objective."
Harun's expression hardened.
"Azaldera."
The light did not confirm.
But it did not deny.
"The ones moving in the shadows seek to release what should not awaken."
His jaw tightened.
"And you're telling me I'm not involved?"
"You are involved," the voice corrected calmly. "But not in the way you assume."
Harun stared into the glow.
"Then explain."
"There is something within your village," she continued. "Something crucial to their plan. It is close. Closer than they realize."
A chill moved through him.
"…Who?"
"I cannot say."
"Why not?"
"Because the time for that revelation has not yet arrived."
His irritation flared.
"How convenient."
"Do not test my patience."
"Oh? What are you going to do? Hit me?"
Silence.
Then—
Impact.
Something invisible smashed directly into his face.
Harun was launched backward into darkness.
He tumbled across nothingness before slamming against an unseen surface.
"Ow!"
He rolled onto his side.
"That hurt!"
The light flickered faintly.
"You require correction."
He pushed himself up.
"Hold on. You don't even have hands! How did you punch me?"
"Form is optional here."
He stared at the glowing mass.
"…You're joking."
The light shifted slightly.
A sudden force struck his side.
He was kicked mid-sentence and sent skidding again.
"Ow! Okay! I get it! Stop assaulting me in the void!"
The presence grew still.
When it spoke again, its tone was no longer amused.
"Harun."
Something in the way it said his name made him straighten.
"You must become serious."
His breathing slowed.
"There is little time."
"For what?"
"The convergence approaches."
His mind raced.
"The masked man said strange things. About keys. About evolution. My power suddenly increased. My stone moved from my forearm to my shoulder. Explain that at least."
The light dimmed slightly.
"As your resolve crystallized, your resonance shifted."
"…English?"
"You stopped fighting for yourself."
He blinked.
"You anchored your will externally. Protection."
He thought of the statues.
Of Omair leaning forward.
Of Aqsa standing in front of him.
"Dravillian stones respond to intent. When intent matures, resonance relocates."
He absorbed that slowly.
"So it moved… because I changed?"
"Yes."
"And the darkness inside it?"
There was a long silence.
Longer than before.
"You are not the only influence touching your power."
The words felt heavier than they should have.
"What does that mean?"
Before she could respond—
The darkness around them trembled.
As if something outside this space had shifted.
The light flickered violently.
"Listen carefully," she said quickly.
"What the masked one searches for is extremely close."
"How close?"
"Close enough that he felt the ripple when you awakened."
Harun's heartbeat quickened.
"And my power?"
"I was about to explain—"
The void fractured.
Like glass splitting under pressure.
The white light surged brighter—
And vanished.
Air slammed into his lungs.
Sound returned all at once.
Voices.
Panicked.
Close.
"Big bro!"
His eyes snapped open.
Sunlight blinded him briefly.
Aqsa hovered over him, tears in her eyes.
"Big bro! You scared us!"
He blinked slowly.
The ruined market.
Villagers gathered around him.
Someone had placed cloth beneath his head.
His body felt heavy.
Drained.
The Dravillian stone on his shoulder pulsed faintly under his skin.
White.
With something darker hidden deep inside.
He stared up at the sky.
"…Close."
Aqsa leaned closer.
"What?"
He turned his head slightly.
"Nothing."
But his mind was racing.
Someone in this village.
Someone important.
Someone connected to Azaldera's release.
And whatever had changed inside him.
It wasn't random.
The countdown had not stopped.
It had only grown quieter.
And that was far more dangerous.