The corridor did not welcome them.
It did not resist them either.
It simply existed.
Straight. Precise. Unforgiving in its symmetry.
The light here was different—less ambient, more directed. Thin streams traced along the walls like veins, converging toward a vanishing point far ahead. No symbols pulsed beneath their feet this time. No shifting patterns.
Just a path.
Defined.
Committed.
Neo walked first.
Not because he chose to.
Because something in him recognised the direction.
The others followed, their footsteps quieter than they should have been, as if the structure absorbed sound before it could fully form.
Cassandra glanced back once.
The chamber behind them had already dimmed into abstraction.
"We could still go back," she said.
"No," Beatrix replied calmly.
Cassandra frowned. "That was fast."
Beatrix didn't slow her pace.
"Not because we can't," she clarified. "Because it wouldn't matter."
Lira exhaled through her nose. "Comforting."
