Chapter 13 — The White Surface Breaks
The ground screamed.
Not loud. Not sharp.
It felt like pressure inside Kael's head, like the place itself didn't want to open but was being forced to.
The crack widened.
Lira stumbled back. "Kael—"
"I know," he said. "Just stay close."
The white surface split under his foot. Darkness leaked out, thin and slow, like ink in water. The shapes beneath reacted at once. Hands pressed up harder. The surface bulged and shook.
UNPLACED SHOULD NOT MOVE, the feeling pushed into him.
Kael clenched his jaw. "Too late."
He jumped.
The crack gave way.
Kael dropped through first, pulling Lira with him. The white surface snapped shut above their heads like nothing had ever been there.
They fell only a short distance this time.
Hard ground. Cold.
Kael rolled and came up on one knee. Stone floor. Real stone. Rough, cracked, solid.
Lira landed beside him and groaned. "Please tell me we're done falling."
Kael looked around.
They were inside something like a hall. Wide. Low ceiling. Long cracks running across the walls like veins. Faint light came from nowhere in particular, just enough to see.
No white. No shadows watching.
For now.
Text appeared, simple and quiet.
> TRANSITION COMPLETE
Lira stared at it. "I hate when it says things like that."
Kael nodded. "Means something else is coming."
At the far end of the hall, something moved.
Not big. Not fast.
Just a shape stepping out of the wall itself, like the stone forgot it wasn't supposed to open.
Kael tightened his grip on the blade.
The shape looked human.
Too human.
It raised its head and smiled.
And Kael knew, right away, that this thing could talk.13