The morning in the Side House began quietly.
Only the faint crackle of the stove and the drip of water in the stone basin broke the silence.
Outside, Norctum lay beneath the shattered sky, each fracture a different piece of dusk—some glowing, others swallowing the light entirely.
Kade drank slowly from a heavy mug, eyes on the door behind which Allorio had disappeared since sunrise. The three artifacts he'd claimed yesterday had been taken without a word into Allorio's workshop.
Nor sat at the table, arms crossed, eyes fixed on Kade. Nico had stretched out on the bench by the window, a blanket over his legs. His skin was pale, but he looked more awake than the night before.
"You're leaving tomorrow?" Nico asked.
"Today," Kade corrected.
Nico blinked. "But the timer—"
The answer came in all their heads at once, cold and even:
[SCHEDULE CHANGE — NEXT GAME BEGINS: 24:00 HOURS]
Reason: Player attrition exceeds threshold.
At zero, all active participants will be relocated to a new game point.
Nico sucked in a sharp breath. "So… no choice."
"Never had one," Kade said.
He let his gaze rest on Nor. "How come…? Someone like you is rare in Norctum."
Nor raised a brow. "Someone like me?"
"Someone who helps others."
Nor leaned back in his chair, hands loose on the rest. "I have my reasons. My father was a proud man. He trained us himself. It's not just a point of view—it's a way of living. And… what's left of people's humanity, if not their trust?"
Kade tilted his head slightly. "Sounds nice. Almost too nice."
"You want to know if it's true."
"I want to know how much of it isn't a lie. I saw you kill. In the first game."
Nor glanced aside. "I had to. They were about to kill a child. He looked… like someone who mattered to me. Or used to matter. Depends on how you see it."
"A person. Who?" Kade leaned forward, genuine interest in his voice.
Nor gave him a thin smile. "Don't dig too deep, big man."
He stood, checking his gear. "I'm coming with you. Someone has to keep you from starting a massacre on the way."
Kade's mouth curved faintly. "Then hurry. I don't like waiting."
---
The rest of the day, Allorio stayed behind a locked door.
Now and then, a faint glow seeped from the crack beneath—sometimes silver, sometimes deep red. Once Kade thought he heard the scrape of metal on stone; another time, something that might have been a breath.
Shortly before sunset, Allorio called him in.
The room smelled of cold smoke and something sweet he couldn't name. The artifacts were no longer separate—they'd been fused into a narrow, dark ring whose surface pulsed faintly in the rhythm of an alien heartbeat.
"Wear it," Allorio said, never breaking eye contact. "Whistle, and it will come. Mist, shadow… it'll find you."
Kade took the ring. The metal was cold, but not dead. "And if I don't whistle?"
"Then it might still come. Maybe."
When Kade left the room, Nico was back at the window, head resting in his hand. "Take care," he said without looking away from the outside.
"Why? Planning to miss me?"
Nico's smile tilted. "Plan instead that I'll still be here when you get back."
Kade slid the ring onto his finger. The mist from Allorio's room still clung to it, creeping faintly over his hand before dissolving.
If you're breathing tomorrow, he thought, you'll be breathing for me.
---
In Norctum the sun had long since vanished, yet the light never changed. Only the shards of sky shifted in their glow—like an unseen hand brushing over glass splinters.
Kade sat on the bench by the window. The ring lay on the table, not a trinket but a promise. Nor stood against the wall, arms crossed. Nico hovered somewhere between rest and sleep, blanket pulled to his chin.
Then the voice came.
[GAME POINT RELOCATION IN: 00:01:00]
No choice.
No more preparation.
Only the clock.
The air in the room thickened, like before a storm. Images flickered through Kade's head—not clear, not solid, but real enough to make his heart skip a beat.
Black plains. The burned edge of the Ashen Warrens.
And further south: an open nothing where debris floated—columns without bases, statue faces half-broken, all slowly orbiting as if the ground had been torn from under a city.
[00:00:10]
The room lost its shape. Shadows pressed into every line until even Norctum's dull light could not seep through.
[00:00:03]
Kade no longer felt the floor. The shadows didn't just pull—they tore. Through the Lanes, past narrow strips of other regions, like a spotlight flashing over places they weren't meant to step.
For a breath, he skimmed above the Glass Mire—now empty, the water-creature lurking just below the surface. Then a rust-red ruin of a city where something massive climbed the walls.
The shadow split open.
They stood on black rock dropping away into nothing on all sides. Above, the debris field spiraled—stone, metal, and forgotten faces. The air tasted of dust and cold.
One by one, more figures flickered into reality. Kade didn't count out loud, but he knew: eighty. No more.
Nor stepped beside him, eyes upward. "Doesn't look inviting."
"Never was," Kade said.
Players kept materializing, shadow from the Lanes still clinging to their shoulders. Kade let his gaze sweep the crowd.
Vox broke away from the others, walking toward him with long, even strides. A broad axe rested lazily on his shoulder, its edge dull until the shard-light above brushed across it.
"You've kept yourself alive," he said without preamble.
"Trying to keep it that way."
Vox's mouth quirked. "Then let's see if you've gotten faster." He tapped the axe on the ground—not a threat, but an invitation.
"Now?" Kade asked, dry.
"Better than waiting."
Euthymia stood barely five meters away, hands loose on the grip of a thin black blade. She watched Vox and Kade sizing each other up, the faint twitch at her mouth betraying that her "grudge" was far from spent.
"Good," she murmured, just loud enough for Kade to hear. "Maybe you'll save me the trouble, Vox."
"Or give you more work," Kade replied without looking at her.
A flicker at the platform's edge—and Crownface stepped out of nothing.
Silver crown. Robes of shadow that swallowed the light. His maskless gaze was empty, yet it felt as if he was measuring each player one by one.
"Oh… you all still look remarkably alive. How disappointing."
He moved among them, every step too slow to feel harmless.
"Eighty of you… and believe me, that's too many. Time to turn you little sheep into wolves."
He stopped at the edge of the platform, nothingness beneath him. "Jump."
The system sliced into the silence:
[MANDATORY ACTION — STEP FORWARD]
Failure to comply will result in removal from the game.
Some players hesitated, others stepped forward on instinct.
Crownface half-turned, head tilted as if listening. "Oh, and… good luck."
With one exaggerated step, he fell backward into the void—vanishing before he even touched the shadows.
The abyss below the platform shimmered like heated air. Kade stepped forward—and the world bent around him, as if someone was folding the edges of reality together.
Something pulled him down, cold and inescapable.
And then came the first tear.