The threshold before them didn't open.
It activated.
A thin line of light crossed the air from floor to ceiling, precise as a freshly drawn scar. Beyond it wasn't darkness, but a geometric hall, made of inclined surfaces and suspended platforms, arranged according to an order that followed not symmetry... but function.
The mark on Marikka's wrist reacted with a cold pulse.
Not alarm.
Recognition.
"I don't like this," Cedric said in a low voice. "This place looks like someone watching you while deciding if you're worth the trouble."
Aurelian took half a step forward, without fully crossing the line of light. "It's a Verification Chamber. I've only seen them in the oldest records."
"Verification of what?" Cedric asked.
Aurelian did not look away. "Of compatibility."
The line of light dissolved.
The hall welcomed them.
As soon as they crossed the threshold, it sealed shut behind them with a sharp sound. The floor changed its incline beneath their feet, forcing them to stop at the center of the main platform.
Three figures materialized before them.
Runic Keepers.
Different from all the others.
More slender, more essential. The runes were not overlaid, but deeply etched, as if they were part of the structure itself. Their faces subtly shifted, not due to emotion, but to calculation.
Aurelian whispered: "Convergence Keepers. They don't execute orders. They evaluate."
Cedric swallowed. "Evaluate to do what."
"To decide," Aurelian answered.
One of the Keepers took a step forward. Its voice did not travel through the air: it emerged from the hall.
"ANOMALY IDENTIFIED."
The floor vibrated beneath Marikka's feet. The mark responded immediately.
"PARTIAL INTERFACE CONFIRMED."
Cedric turned to Aurelian. "Partial is a word I do not want to hear associated with her."
Aurelian did not reply. He was staring at Marikka with an expression she recognized: not surprise, but confirmation.
The second Keeper tilted its head. The runes on its face reconfigured.
"INCOMPLETE CONVERGENCE. RISK OF SYSTEMIC INSTABILITY."
The third spoke last, more slowly:
"PROTOCOL ACTIVATED."
The hall changed.
The platforms slid through space, separating. The floor beneath Marikka isolated itself from the one beneath Cedric and Aurelian, creating a clean, surgical distance.
"Hey— no—" Cedric reached out his hand.
A transparent barrier rose between them.
Aurelian struck the invisible surface with his palm. "Unauthorized separation!"
No response.
Marikka was alone.
The mark burned.
Not like before.
More deeply.
A pressure crossed her mind, like a filter attempting to let through only what was useful. A sudden dizziness bent her knees; she had to focus to remain standing.
"NOT OPPORTUNE," the first Keeper declared. "EMOTIONAL INTERFERENCE."
"She's a person!" Cedric shouted. "Not an error!"
No one reacted.
The hall began to replay.
Incomplete fragments appeared before Marikka: the corridor that decided, the Node, the Nameless-Place. Not memories, but reduced models, devoid of context.
The second Keeper spoke: "RESPONSE SIMULATION."
An impulse crossed the platform. The mark sought alignment.
It failed.
The simulation trembled.
The vibration that emerged did not belong to the Athenaeum.
Ash.Iron.
Marikka felt a sudden pain behind her eyes, as if something were trying to enter the model.
The third Keeper stiffened.
"EXTERNAL FREQUENCY DETECTED."
Aurelian's eyes widened. "It's trying to—"
The mark on Marikka's wrist pulsed harder. The platform beneath her shook, and for an instant the hall's surfaces lost coherence.
"UNAUTHORIZED," the Keepers declared in unison.
Marikka was doing nothing.
She was responding.
The simulation collapsed in on itself. The models dissolved into dead light. Marikka felt a sudden emptiness, as if something she didn't know she had had been taken away.
Cedric screamed: "MARIKKA!"
His voice reached her muffled. Distant. As if she were underwater.
The first Keeper retreated a step.
"CONVERGENCE COMPROMISED."
The second added: "INTERFACE NON-CONTAINABLE."
The third remained silent the longest. When it spoke, its voice was different.
"UNALIGNED RESOURCE. BUT NECESSARY."
Aurelian held his breath. "If they have classified us," he murmured, "they will never stop following us."
The barrier trembled.
"PROTOCOL MODIFIED."
The platforms moved back together. The barrier dissolved.
Cedric ran to Marikka and grabbed her shoulders. "Hey. Hey. Look at me. Breathe. Squeeze something."
Marikka took a deep breath. The mark quieted, leaving her with a heavy fatigue, as if she had carried too great a weight for too long.
Aurelian watched her in silence. In his eyes, there was no longer just worry.
There was certainty.
The Keepers retreated, merging with the walls. A new opening formed before them.
"OUTCOME REGISTERED," a distant voice said. "PROCEED."
Cedric whispered: "They didn't stop us."
Aurelian replied softly: "No. They made us... relevant."
The mark on Marikka's wrist vibrated one last time.
Not as a response.
As a promise she hadn't asked for.