Kael was nearly breathless under the shadow of the approaching darkness. A storm of panic raged inside him; not knowing what else to do, he reflexively began running toward Mary. The last fragment of hope in his heart fueled this desperate action. Mary's warm voice echoed in his ears, yet at the same time, she was shouting helplessly, "Kael, run! Get out of here!" But somehow, it seemed like her voice wasn't reaching Kael—or perhaps Kael could hear her, but he could never truly reach her.
Kael picked up his pace, his breath coming in erratic bursts. He reached out his hands, trying to touch her, to push her away from danger. But then, something unexpected happened—his hand passed straight through Mary, as if she were not real, not tangible. Like a dream that could never be grasped. His hand touched only emptiness. The tears clouding his eyes spoke of helplessness more than sorrow. Each drop falling from his eyes cried out wordlessly, "Run! Please, run!"
But who were those cries for? Mary? Himself? Or the darkness? Kael's mind was filled with countless questions. Why was he doing this? Was it love, loyalty, or a deep sense of gratitude he felt for Mary that drove his need to protect her? As his heart overflowed, his eyes followed the darkness. It slowly devoured everything around him—first the trees, then the child version of Kael, and finally Mary. Everything was being erased by the darkness, like some enormous, devouring maw.
Kael reached out his hand again, but it was no use. Again and again, he tried to hold on, but the darkness crept closer with every attempt. Inside, he whispered, "Please… stop… just for a moment…"
But the darkness didn't stop. As his hands waved through the void, his fear grew deeper. He slowly lowered his head, avoiding its gaze. He didn't even look at the door anymore. In that moment, maybe he had forgotten the door even existed. He was allowing the darkness to consume him, surrendering inch by inch.
The thoughts in his mind weighed on him like a crushing burden:
"What can I do? Where can I run? If the darkness is going to swallow me… even if I reach out, will it be in vain? What if I can't save Mary? What would my last words to her be?"
Kael's heart was shattering. Somewhere deep inside, a scream was rising—but he couldn't let it out. Suddenly, silence fell. Time slowed. The darkness approached with steady, determined steps. But inside Kael, something strange was born—not surrender, but a flicker of unknown hope.
"Maybe this isn't the end," he thought, wiping his tears. "Maybe there's a light even within darkness. Or a door I haven't yet seen…"
But for now, all he could do was watch the darkness; raise his hand, struggle to reach his loved ones… yet again, his hands met only emptiness.
Kael held his breath and didn't even think to look at the door. He was trapped between the hope rising within him and the fear wrapping around him. Time, for him, no longer sped up or slowed—it simply continued to exist.
And the darkness quietly pulled him in.
As Kael felt himself being consumed by the darkness, this time he did not close his eyes. It wasn't a surrender of instinct—but an act of conscious resistance. "No," he said inwardly. "I won't be afraid this time. No matter what happens, I'll keep my eyes open."
But the irony was… though his eyes were open, he saw nothing.
He seemed to be in an endless void. There was no ground, no sky. No up, no down. No right, no left. Every direction was the same thick blackness. It was as if he had gone blind. Or worse… as if every light in the world had been extinguished—forever—for him.
With a cold thought rising inside him, Kael lowered his head.
"Is this the end?"
"Is this what eternity means?"
"Not drowning in darkness, but quietly vanishing within it?"
His sense of time was lost. Perhaps minutes passed, or hours… or only seconds. But to Kael, the weight pressing down made it feel like he could remain here for a lifetime. Bitterness, disappointment, and numbness slowly gnawed at his soul. He hadn't saved Mary. He hadn't protected that small child—himself. He hadn't even reached for the door. And now, here he was, alone in the endless dark, face to face with the void inside him.
"Maybe… this was the place I always deserved."
Just then—in this place where nothing should exist—a sound emerged.
Crackling, metallic, echoing and muffled all at once… It didn't resemble a human voice, nor an animal's. Maybe it was the same sound he had heard before being pulled into the dark. Foreign, yet familiar. As if it were an echo from the deepest corners of his soul.
Kael's whole body jolted. A chill raced up his spine.
"It came from right behind me… so close."
He turned instinctively. His breathing quickened.
"Is someone there?" he called out. Even the sound of his own voice felt foreign to him.
But… nothing. The darkness remained unchanged. The void, still silent.
"Did I imagine it?" Kael wondered.
Or perhaps this place was so strange that even one's own thoughts sounded like voices from outside.
With a weary sigh, he lowered his head. This time, he truly wanted to close his eyes. "Enough… just a little silence," he murmured.
But as his eyelids were about to fall shut… he noticed something.
A faint light—reflected upward from the invisible floor beneath his feet.
His eyes opened instinctively again. The darkness hadn't changed, but… yes, it was there. A thin, trembling red light seeping out from below his feet.
At first, it was just a single line. But as he watched carefully, he began to see more intricate patterns slowly glowing to life around it.
The red lines glowing beneath Kael's feet first appeared to be random and chaotic. But within seconds, they began to merge and clarify. A rectangular shape etched into the ground took form before his eyes. Inside it, lines pulsed and twisted like veins, brimming with energy. The ground was still invisible, but the shape hovered as if nailed into reality.
The background was still pitch black. But this rectangle cut through the darkness with its own presence.
And then…
Letters began to appear.
The first characters flickered into existence with a faint glow. Kael watched without blinking. His pupils widened, his heart beat faster. What was he seeing?
You have been Detected by the Wheel of Time!
You are being Forcefully Ejected from the Wheel of Time.
The letters seemed imbued with a will of their own. They weren't just written—they grew. Each letter pulsed with meaning, with vibration. Something that resonated directly in Kael's body…
"Detected…" Kael repeated in a whisper.
"The Wheel of Time… forced ejection?"
He remembered something. That phrase—"Wheel of Time"—he'd heard it before. That voice… it was the same one he had vaguely heard before falling asleep.
And now… here it was, laid out before his eyes in the darkness.
Kael's mind began to generate questions of its own as it tried to comprehend.
"Is the Wheel of Time a place? And this… what does being detected mean? Who detected me?"
And at that moment…
The ground shook.
Kael lost his balance involuntarily. There was no floor, yet the tremor was real. It was as if existence itself was trembling. And right in front of him, beneath the message, the red light began forming a circle.