The alley was narrow.
Dark and too quiet for a city that was currently hunting them.
Elya pressed his back against the cold brick wall.
Listening.
Footsteps echoed from the main street.
Boots on cobblestone.
Multiple pairs of soldiers.
Still searching for them.
Beside him, Nana caught her breath.
Heart pounding.
The disguise had worked—until it didn't.
They'd been recognized. They barely escaped.
"Now what?" she whispered.
Elya didn't answer.
His hand moved instead.
Fingers tracing patterns in the empty air.
Symbols appeared.
But not like anything Nana had seen before.
These weren't simple shapes.
They were complexed and layered.
Geometric patterns that folded in on themselves—
Like looking at a maze from the inside.
Each symbol pulsed with light.
Then they began to spin.
Slowly at first then faster.
The air hummed.
A sound Nana felt in her bones.
She took a step back.
"Elya, what are you—"
The air tore.
It happened all at once.
One moment: empty alley.
Next moment: a rip in reality itself.
Vertical in shape.Taller than Elya.
Wider than his outstretched arms.
The edges shimmered gold and white.
Crackling with energy that made Nana's hair stand on end.
Beyond the tear— there was darkness.
Nana stared.
"What... what is that?"
Elya lowered his hand.The symbols faded.
But the portal remained.
"A door."
"A door to where?!"
"Stop yapping and follow."
He stepped toward it.
Nana grabbed his arm.
"Wait—you can't be serious—that's—there's nothing on the other side—"
"There's something on the other side."
"I'm not going in there—"
"Yes, you are."
He pulled his arm free.
Walked to the portal's edge and stopped.
Looked back.
"Coming?"
Nana shook her head and backed away.
"No. No way. I'm not stepping into—into nothingn—"
Footsteps drew closer now.
The soldiers were coming.
"You have three seconds to decide," Elya said flatly.
"I'm not—"
"Three."
"Mr. Ghost, please, just tell me what—"
"Two."
"I can't see anything in there! What if we fall? What if—"
"One."
Nana planted her feet.
"I'm not going!"
Elya sighed.
"Annoying ant"
He turned and stepped through the portal and disappeared into the void.
Nana stood alone in the alley.
Staring at the tear in reality.At the darkness beyond.
Her heart hammered.
The footsteps were loud now.
Voices:
"Check the alleys—"
"He couldn't have gone far—"
"Find them!"
Nana looked at the portal.
Then at the alley entrance.Then back at the portal.
She took one step forward.
Trying to see something —anything—beyond the darkness.
She leaned further.Squinting.
Her upper body inside the portaland her lower body still in the alley.
Butt sticking out.
"I really wouldn't recommend that."
A voice from the other side.
Elya's.
Echoing weirdly.
Like he was both close and impossibly far away.
Nana tried to pull back—
A hand grabbed her and pulled hard.
"HEY—!"
Nana came forward through the portal.
Completely off-balance.
She tumbled—Hit something solid—
And stopped rolling.
She gasped.Then scrambled to her feet and spun around.
"IS THAT HOW TO TREAT A LADY?!"
Elya stood a few feet away.Hands in his pockets.
"You are talking too much."
"YOU PULLED ME!"
"Through a portal, yes."
"WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!"
"Efficient."
Nana's face went RED.
"EFFICIENT?! You—I—that was—"
She sputtered.Searching for words.
Finding none adequate to express her outrage.
Behind her, the portal sealed.
The golden edges collapsed inward.
The tear stitched itself closed.
Like it had never been.
Nana spun back.
"Wait—no—how do we get back—"
Then she saw where she was.
And forgot to be angry.She saw darkness.
The kind that existed before light was invented.
Nana looked down.
She stood on stone which made a bridge.
Maybe ten feet wide.Solid beneath her feet.
But beneath the bridge—
Therewas nothingness.Infinite in size
She looked up.
But— saw massive shapes.
Drifting through the darkness like silent ships.
Chunks of rock the size of buildings.
Floating.Rotating slowly.
Gliding past each other in perfect silence.
One passed close enough for Nana to see the cracks in its surface.
Some covered in what looked like frost—
Or maybe stars—
It was impossible to tell.
The only sound was grinding.
Deep andDistant.
Like the universe itself turning on gears older than time.
Nana's knees felt weak.
"Where are we?"
Her voice sounded small.Swallowed by the vastness.
Elya stood at the edge of the bridge.Looking forward.
"Hyperspace."
"That's not an answer—"
"It's the only one I have."
He started walking forward into the darkness.
Along the bridge that stretched into infinity.
Nana stood frozen.
"Elya—"
He didn't stop nor look back.
He just kept walking.Disappearing into the void.
Nana looked behind her.
The portal was gone.
No way back.She looked ahead.
Elya was already twenty feet away.
A silhouette against deeper darkness.
She ran.
Feet pounding on stone.
Terrified of being left alone in this place.
She caught up.matched his pace.
Breathing hard.
"How do you even know where you're going?"
"As anyone told you that you are annoying."
"Are you always this rude?"
"If you speak again. I will cut that mouth of yours."
They walked in silence.
Minutes passed.
Then hours.Then—
Something moved in the darkness ahead.
At first Nana thought it was another drifting island.
Then towers emerged.
Walls.
Windows burning with warm golden light.
A castle the size of a city floated in the endless void.
The bridge led directly to its gate.
Two massive doors. Iron and steel.
Covered in engravings that seemed to move in the flickering light.
Nana stopped and stared.
"That's..."
"Home."
Elya walked to the doors andaised one hand.
They opened.Silentl and smoothly.
Light spilled out.Bright.Warm and Colourful
Nana blinked.
What?
From a void of infinite darkness—
Into light.
Elya stepped through.Nana hesitated.
Then followed.Into the impossible.