The tunnel swallowed them.
Kael followed Mara deeper into the crevice, each step echoing against ancient walls.
No light.
No breeze.
Just the sound of their breathing.
And the pulse.
The bottle hadn't stopped since they fled the Watcher.
But the rhythm had changed.
Not fear.
Not warning.
Curiosity.
"This place," Mara whispered, her voice too loud in the dark, "wasn't built for people."
Kael said nothing.
He could feel it too.
The slope beneath their feet wasn't natural. The angles were too precise. The air didn't move, but it didn't feel still either.
It watched.
Or listened.
Or both.
After what felt like hours—but couldn't have been more than twenty minutes—they reached a chamber.
Octagonal.
Smooth.
The stone glowed faintly with residual light.
Kael stepped in.
The bottle responded instantly—
glowing softly, as if recognizing something long forgotten.
Across the far wall, a surface shimmered.
Like smoke trapped in crystal.
Kael moved toward it.
"Don't," Mara said.
Too late.
His fingers brushed the surface.
The chamber shifted.
Kael stood in the same room.
But not now.
Before.
Machines hummed.
Figures in robes moved along the walls.
Voices whispered in languages his ears didn't understand—but his mind did.
A girl stood in the center.
Young.
Still.
Wearing a pendant shaped like his bottle.
She looked at him.
Not through him.
At him.
"Witness," she said.
"You're late."
The image shattered.
Kael staggered back, gasping.
The stone was cold again.
Mara caught his arm, eyes wide.
"What did you see?"
He didn't answer right away.
He looked at the wall.
Still.
Unmoving.
But in the corner of the surface, a new line had appeared.
Faint.
Pulsing.
Like text waiting to be read.
"I think this place remembers," he said quietly.
"Remembers what?"
"Me."
Mara's grip tightened.
"Kael, this isn't normal. That bottle… whatever it is, it's rewriting you."
"I know."
He looked down at his arm.
The golden lines were brighter.
Sharper.
Not just symbols now.
Coordinates.
Moving.
As if pointing.
The bottle pulsed.
A whisper bloomed in Kael's skull.
Not words.
Not commands.
Just… intent.
Find the lost node.
Mara stepped back.
"Your eyes," she said. "They're glowing."
Kael blinked.
The light faded.
But her expression didn't.
For the first time since they met,
she looked afraid.
Of him.
Kael took a step toward her.
"I'm still me."
"Are you?"
Her voice cracked.
She backed away.
Kael stopped.
He didn't blame her.
Because deep inside—
He wasn't sure either.