The safehouse walls groaned as if they were breathing. Shadows stretched unnaturally, crawling across the cracked plaster. The steady rhythm of the knocks had ended, replaced by silence so sharp it felt like a blade pressing against each of their throats.

Then came the whisper.

"Lin. We've been waiting."

It seeped through the seams of the door, slipping beneath the cracks in the floorboards, sliding into their ears as though the walls themselves had learned to speak. Lin staggered back a step, his pulse hammering against his ribs. The tether inside him pulsed in recognition, vibrating with an almost hungry resonance.

Keller raised his pistol, his knuckles white against the grip. "That's the same voice from the street. Don't tell me it tracked us here."

Min-joon's blade gleamed in the dim light as he drew it, his movements sharp, fueled by anger more than caution. "It didn't track us. It followed you." He jabbed the tip of the blade toward Lin. "You're the damn beacon. Every time it speaks your name, the seams answer. Look at the city—this isn't coincidence."

Lin's throat tightened. He wanted to deny it, but the tether throbbed like a second heartbeat, guilty and undeniable. He whispered, more to himself than to them, "It's not following me. It's calling me."

The words landed like poison.

Hwan cursed under his breath. "Fantastic. Our supposed leader's a homing signal for whatever nightmare's out there." His usual grin was gone, replaced by a hard, calculating glare. "So what now? Open the door and roll out the red carpet?"

The walls shook again—this time not from the voice, but from something physical pressing against them. The air grew heavier, denser, the light bulbs flickering violently before half of them shattered in a shower of sparks.

BOOM.

The first impact hit the door like a battering ram. Dust cascaded from the ceiling.

BOOM.

Another strike. This one deeper, as though the wood and steel weren't being battered but peeled apart.

Lin staggered forward, his hands instinctively raised. The tether inside him flared, threads of pale blue light flickering across his fingertips. The seams outside screamed in resonance, twisting the night sky into ribbons of fractured glass. From the window, Keller caught glimpses of the chaos—civilians screaming, cars swerving, police lines forming, military convoys rolling into the streets. And above it all, dozens of phones capturing shaky footage, streaming the end of secrecy to the entire world.

"This city's a powder keg," Keller muttered. "One spark and it goes up. And guess what, Lin? You are the spark."

Min-joon's blade lifted higher, his voice raw with betrayal. "Then maybe we cut the spark out before the fire spreads." He took a step toward Lin, and for a split second, Keller mirrored the movement, putting himself between them.

"Stand down, Min-joon," Keller snapped. "You don't even know what killing him would do. For all we know, the seams rip the city apart the second his heart stops."

Min-joon's eyes burned. "And leaving him alive? Look at this! The seams are already ripping. How many people are going to die because we keep following his half-truths?"

The blade and the pistol didn't quite point at Lin, but the air between them was so tense it might as well have been drawn blood already.

Lin raised his voice, strained and shaking. "Stop. Both of you. If you kill me, you don't just end me—you unleash this thing without anyone left to hold it back. You think it's chaos now? It'll be worse. Much worse."

BOOM.

The door split at its hinges, wood screaming, metal warping like clay. A sliver of impossible darkness leaked through the cracks—not shadow, but absence, the kind of void that made the air hiss and bend.

Then the whisper returned, louder now, pressed directly into their skulls.

"Come, Lin. You've hidden long enough."

Hwan swore, his gun already raised, sweat streaking his temple. "We don't hold this place much longer. Either we run or we make our stand here. Pick one, quick."

"No," Lin said sharply. He stepped toward the door, his tether flaring brighter, veins of light crawling up his arms. "Running won't help. It'll follow me anywhere. If we're going to survive, I have to meet it head-on."

Keller's eyes widened. "You'll tear yourself apart!"

"I already am," Lin muttered, his hands trembling as the tether roared inside him. He felt it—the pull, the invitation. The seams weren't just answering. They were opening, eager, waiting for him to cross.

The door gave one final groan before bursting inward, shards of wood and twisted steel exploding into the room. Keller and Hwan dove for cover, Min-joon raised his blade, and Lin stood unmoving as the figure stepped through.

It was the suited man—or at least, the shell of him. His outline flickered, his form unraveling and reweaving like threads of smoke. His face was a shifting mask, too sharp and too smooth, features sliding between human and something else. And in his eyes burned the same light as Lin's tether—only darker, deeper, endless.

"You've hidden in their world long enough," the figure said, voice both echoing and intimate. "But names can't be buried forever. You are not Lin. You are the first key. And it is time you remembered."

The tether inside Lin screamed in resonance, threads of light lashing outward uncontrollably. The entire safehouse shook, cracks spiderwebbing through the walls. The seams outside flared brighter, some splitting open to reveal glimpses of other places—burning skies, shattered cities, oceans inverted above the ground.

Min-joon staggered back, momentarily stunned. "What… the hell are we even fighting?"

Keller's answer was grim, his pistol steady though his hands shook. "Not something we can kill with bullets."

Hwan barked out a laugh that was anything but amused. "Great. So we're screwed."

Lin's voice was low, almost swallowed by the hum of the tether. "Not screwed. Not yet." He lifted his gaze to the figure. "You want me? Fine. But you don't get them."

The figure tilted its head, features sliding into a mockery of a smile. "Then show me you are what I believe you to be."

And with that, the figure stepped fully into the room—bringing the seams with him. The air fractured like glass, reality bending inward as though the safehouse itself had been pulled halfway into another world. Lin screamed as the tether surged, no longer asking for his control but demanding it.

And then the room collapsed into light and shadow.

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