Chapter Four: The Crossing
Killian
"You're not him."
Killian said it quietly—but there was no hesitation anymore.
The thing wearing Gibson's face didn't react.
It just… watched.
Good.
That meant he was right.
Killian lifted the lantern slightly. The flame inside twisted violently, like it was trying to escape the glass.
"You said I wouldn't understand," Killian continued. "So show me."
For the first time—
The smile faltered.
Just slightly.
"You don't want that."
"Try me."
Silence stretched between them.
Heavy.
Then—
The figure stepped closer.
The forest didn't move with it.
It shifted around it.
"Careful," it said.
And then—
Killian stepped forward.
The moment his foot crossed the edge of the forest—
The world broke.
Gibson
Gibson felt it.
A ripple.
Like a stone dropped into still water—but the "water" was reality itself.
His head snapped up.
"No…"
The cracks around him flared with light.
Bright.
Violent.
Something was forcing its way in.
"You shouldn't have done that," the voice said.
But this time—
There was tension in it.
Killian
He couldn't breathe.
Not because there was no air—
But because the air didn't feel real.
The ground beneath him shifted like soft flesh, every step slightly sinking before pushing him back up. The trees loomed too tall, bending in ways that made his eyes ache.
And the sky—
There was no sky.
Just darkness.
Layered.
Endless.
Alive.
Killian staggered forward.
"Gibson!" he shouted.
His voice didn't echo.
It was swallowed.
Then—
He saw him.
Across the broken landscape.
On his knees.
Alive.
"GIBSON!"
Gibson
His heart stopped.
That voice—
"No… no, no, no…"
He turned.
And there—
Through the distortion—
Killian.
Actually there.
"You came," Gibson breathed.
But something else moved too.
The Presence
It shifted.
Not fully.
Not yet.
But enough.
Two of them now.
Two minds.
Two witnesses.
Interesting.
Killian
Killian started toward him.
Every step harder than the last, like something was pushing against him—trying to keep him out.
"Hold on!" he shouted.
"I'm trying!" Gibson yelled back.
The space between them warped.
Stretching.
Twisting.
Refusing to let them meet.
Then—
The voice.
Louder now.
Everywhere.
"You were not invited."
Killian froze.
His grip tightened on the lantern.
"Yeah?" he said through clenched teeth. "I don't really care."
For a moment—
Silence.
Then the world 😱 screamed