When Zamira stepped away from the mirror, a weight settled into the room—a dense, heavy silence.
It wasn't dark,and it wasn't peaceful either.It felt as though something was waiting.Invisible… yet pressing down on her like an unseen burden.
The lights were off, but the room was not dark.Along the corners of the walls, something moved—as if an unseen breath was circulating through the space.
Zamira could tell now.People would have called it unease.She knew better.
This was a layer leak.
She touched her chest.
The bond was still there.Nayel… distant, but alive.
The moment she turned—
She saw him.
Zamira froze.
For the first time, she did not feel fear.
"I can feel you," she said calmly."Show yourself."
Her voice did not tremble.
The answer echoed inside her—not aloud, but instinctively.
"I am already here."
The voice did not sound like Nayel's.It wasn't gentle.It wasn't familiar.But it wasn't hostile either.
Zamira turned slowly.
Someone stood by the window.
A silhouette untouched by light—yet not made of darkness.
As if its presence had been drawn incompletely.
"Who are you?" Zamira asked.
The silhouette inclined its head.Not submission—respect.
"No one calls me by my name," it said."Not yet."
Zamira frowned.
"How did you get here?"
The silhouette took a step forward.There was no sound.
"Not through a door," it replied."But through you—because you are the door."
Something stirred inside Zamira then.A place even Nayel had never reached.
"Are you one of those watching me?" she asked.
The silhouette shook its head.
"No.I am one of those who are waiting."
That word—
Waiting.
What did that even mean?
Zamira didn't step back.There was no fear in her.Instead, her shoulders relaxed.
She was calm.Grounded.As if she already knew what to do.
"What do you want?"
A brief silence followed.
This time, it was a chosen silence.
"I was among the first to sense the imbalance," the silhouette said."But unlike the others, I was not afraid."
Zamira narrowed her eyes.
"The others?" she asked.
"Taru became angry.""Darius calculated.""Liliana sensed it—but stayed silent.""Sirius read the fate.""Cebrail defended you."
Zamira's heart faltered at a single point.
"And you?" she asked.
For the first time, the silhouette looked toward the window.
Outside, the city lay in darkness.The power still hadn't returned.
"I," it said slowly,"watch which thresholds remainwhen they finally reveal themselves."
Zamira inhaled deeply.
"And?" she asked.
The silhouette turned back to her.
She still couldn't fully see its face—but she could feel its gaze upon her.
"You remain," it said."But no one is ready for that."
At that moment, the lamp flickered on—
Then went dark again.
Zamira didn't blink.
"I'll ask your name later," she said, her voice firm."Now leave."
The silhouette smiled faintly—not a threat,but acceptance.
"I cannot stay long anyway," it said."Few can see you yet…and that is a danger for me as well."
And just like that—
It didn't leave.
It simply stopped being felt.
Gone.Quietly.Like a light extinguishing itself.
Zamira was alone.
But this time, she did not feel lonely.She felt like part of something larger—a vital piece of a greater whole.
She touched her chest once more.
The bond was steady.The power was still sealed.
But now, there was something else:
A thresholdthat knewit was no longer being watched.
Zamira stood alone in the room.
The silence had returned—but it was no longer empty.
She touched her chest again.
The bond was steady.Locked.Alive.
And then—
A pressure brushed against the edge of her awareness.
Not inside the room.Not fully within any layer she could see.
But between.
"Nayel…" she whispered.
The air near the far wall tightened, as if space itself resisted forming a shape.
He did not appear fully.
Only an outline—fractured, restrained, held back by something stronger than distance.
Yet she felt him.
Immediately.
"You shouldn't be seen right now," his voice reached her, strained but clear."The balance is watching."
Zamira's jaw tightened.
"I'm not afraid of being watched," she replied.
"I know," Nayel said softly."That's why this is dangerous."
For a brief moment, the shadows around him flickered—not weakening,but reacting to her presence.
"Someone else crossed, didn't they?" Nayel asked.
Zamira didn't answer right away.
She turned toward the window.
The city outside remained dark.Streetlights dead.Buildings frozen in artificial night.
"No," she said quietly."Someone didn't cross."
She looked back.
"They were waiting."
Something shifted in Nayel's presence.
A tension she had never felt from him before.
"Then it has begun," he said."Not just for us."
The room responded.
A subtle vibration ran through the walls, through the floor—as if the structure of the world itself had registered the statement.
Zamira felt it too.
Not fear.
Recognition.
In the space near the window—where the silhouette had stood moments ago—the air folded inward for a heartbeat.
Not enough to open.Not enough to tear.
Just enough to mark.
A presence anchored itself there.
Unseen.Unnamed.
But real.
Nayel's voice lowered.
"Eşikler görünür olduğunda," he said,"some will try to control them."
Zamira's gaze hardened.
"And some will try to erase them."
"Yes," Nayel replied."And some… will choose."
The vibration faded.
The room steadied.
Nayel's outline thinned, retreating once more beyond the layer he could not cross.
"Zamira," he said—not as a warning,but as truth.
"You are no longer alone in this."
She nodded, more to herself than to him.
"I know."
The air by the window remained still.
Too still.
Whatever had formed there was no longer observing—
It was waiting.
Zamira stood unmoving, her hand resting over her heart.
The bond held.The power remained sealed.
But somewhere beyond sight—
A new presence had taken its placein the architecture of the worlds.
And the thresholdhad been acknowledged.