The wind that swept across the ruin smelled of rust and ozone, like a storm that had lost its sky. Hana didn't move for a long moment—her knees pressed into the cracked concrete, her breath shuddering between relief and dread. Keller was alive. His pulse was weak but steady beneath her trembling fingers. Lin, however, was barely conscious, his burnt arm twitching faintly where the tether had fused with his skin.

The Seam hung open behind them, a wound in the air that refused to close. Its edges fluttered like torn fabric, leaking slow ribbons of color that hissed when they touched the ground. Each pulse of light sent a low hum through the air, as if something inside was still breathing.

Then the hum deepened. It became a heartbeat—but not Keller's. Not anyone's.

Lin forced himself to sit up, his teeth gritted against the pain. "It's stabilizing the threshold," he said, voice rough. "Something's forcing it open from the other side."

Hana's stomach tightened. "Something followed us?"

He nodded once. "Or someone."

Before she could respond, the air fractured again. The wound split wider, vomiting a surge of black mist that crawled along the ground like liquid shadow. Hana's instincts screamed. She stood, dragging Keller back with one arm, her eyes locked on the shifting form that began to emerge.

At first, it was shape without meaning—a distortion, flickering in and out of focus. Then, piece by piece, it solidified. A humanoid figure, tall and slender, covered in metallic plates that seemed to breathe. Its face was smooth, featureless, except for a vertical slit of red light that glowed where eyes should have been.

The thing tilted its head, studying them. Then it spoke—its voice a thousand whispers layered together.

"Unauthorized extraction detected."

Lin's blood ran cold. "No. No, that can't be—"

"What is it?" Hana demanded.

He swallowed. "A Seam Warden. A guardian entity—they monitor traversal breaches. But this one—" He looked up, realizing the impossible. "—it shouldn't exist outside the Seam."

The Warden's voice cut through the night. "Return the lost fragment or face dissolution."

Its gaze turned toward Keller.

Hana immediately stepped in front of him, spreading her arms wide. "You're not taking him."

The creature tilted its head again, as if considering. "The fragment was taken from equilibrium. The Seam demands return."

Keller coughed weakly behind her, his voice hoarse. "Hana… it's not wrong."

She turned sharply. "Don't you dare say that."

"I remember," he said, eyes flickering with something strange—fear and clarity twisted together. "When I was inside it… I saw what they were made of. It's not just code, Hana. The Seam—it's built from what's left of us. People. Memories. I was part of it."

Lin clenched his jaw. "You're still human. That thing can't have you."

The Warden raised its hand. The motion was slow, almost elegant—and then the air shattered. Shockwaves rippled through the concrete, splitting the ground. The noise was deafening. Hana and Lin were thrown backward.

Hana hit the ground hard, the breath knocked from her lungs. She looked up just in time to see the Warden advancing—its steps silent, but each one leaving cracks of glowing red in its wake.

Lin struggled to stand, dragging a broken cable from his pack. "Hana!" he shouted. "Get him out of range!"

She hesitated. "What are you doing?"

"Buying time!" He connected the cable to the remains of his burnt glove. Sparks flared. "I can still trigger a feedback loop from the tether residue."

"That'll kill you," Keller rasped.

Lin smiled, teeth bloodied. "Only if it works."

The Warden turned toward him, almost curious. Its voice resonated deeper now, metallic and cold. "Resistance acknowledged. Erasure commencing."

Hana's instincts took over. She grabbed Keller's arm and dragged him behind a fallen column as the air ignited. Lin raised his hand, channeling the remaining energy through the makeshift device. A blast of red light erupted, slamming into the Warden. For a moment, it seemed to stagger—the air rippled violently—but then it raised its other hand, absorbing the force like smoke into lungs.

The tether residue burned out instantly. Lin fell to his knees, gasping.

The Warden spoke again, voice now distorted. "Energy signature incompatible. Adaptation complete."

"Of course it learns," Lin muttered. "Because why wouldn't it?"

Hana's pulse thundered in her ears. She turned to Keller, desperate. "Can you do anything? You were part of it—can you control it?"

Keller's eyes fluttered open again, his irises faintly glowing the same shade as the Seam's veins. "Maybe… but if I try, I might finish what it started. I'll lose what's left of me."

"Then we'll pull you back," she said fiercely. "You trust me?"

He gave a weak laugh. "I always have."

Hana placed her hand over his heart. "Then let's break their rules."

The Warden raised both hands now, palms outstretched. The air folded inward, gravity distorting. The ground cracked like glass.

Keller focused, breathing shallowly. His voice grew deeper, layered, as if something else spoke with him. "You want your balance," he said to the Warden. "Then take it."

He slammed his palm into the concrete.

The Seam behind them convulsed. Light poured through the cracks like liquid fire. The Warden turned sharply, its head twitching. It recognized the signal—but it was too late.

A surge of energy erupted outward, spiraling around Keller and Hana. The Seam screamed, the sound of a thousand overlapping timelines tearing at once. Hana's skin burned from the inside out, every nerve alight, but she didn't let go.

When the blast faded, the Warden was gone—its body dissolved into drifting ash that glimmered and vanished.

The night fell still again.

Hana blinked through the haze. Keller had collapsed against her shoulder, barely breathing. The glow in his eyes was gone. Lin lay a few meters away, unconscious but alive. The Seam was closed at last—sealed into a faint scar of light that pulsed once and then faded completely.

For the first time in hours—or maybe days—there was silence.

Hana brushed Keller's hair back from his forehead. "You're here," she whispered. "You're really here."

He stirred faintly, voice a fragile echo. "For now…"

She held him tighter. "Then we'll make now enough."

But even as she said it, a faint vibration hummed beneath the ground—low, almost imperceptible. Something vast and unseen, still turning below the surface, like the Seam hadn't truly vanished.

Far above them, the clouds twisted into a spiral.

Something had changed in the world. Something irreversible.

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