My legs didn't stop.
I ran past the wheat fields, past the riverbank, into the edge of the forest.
The deeper I went, the quieter the world became.
But he was still behind me.
I could feel his presence—like a cold needle threading through the Grid itself.
> He's not normal.
Whoever that crimson-cloaked man was, he could sense the same thing I did. Maybe more.
My heart pounded. I stumbled. Fell.
The ground greeted me hard—but that wasn't what made me freeze.
Beneath my hand… something shimmered.
A faint thread. Glowing blue. Pulled taut like a string on an invisible harp.
> A line of the Grid.
I didn't think.
I reached for it.
And the world… shifted.
The wind reversed. The trees bent away from me. The light flickered unnaturally, and space twisted—just a bit.
For a second, I saw everything in fractals.
> Threads. Paths. Choices.
Then the thread snapped—and everything slammed back into place.
But the man was gone.
Vanished.
Like he'd never been there at all.
I stood up, shaking.
> What… did I just do?
But then I heard the voice again—faint, but certain:
> "You touched the Grid, Kael. It touched back."