THUMP.
...
The sound moved
through the Mist Forest.
Not loudly.
It did not need to.
JHARAA stopped.
Halkan remained on the ground.
Her breathing was uneven.
Blood still touched her lips.
But something...
was different.
...
ORIGIN.
PART II.
...
Halkan stared at her hands.
Nothing about them
looked different.
The trees had not moved.
The mist had not bowed.
The world had not changed.
...
She had.
...
Halkan whispered:
"So..."
...
Her eyes widened slightly.
...
"...that was it."
...
JHARAA's head tilted.
For the first time
since entering the Mist Forest...
the Repeated Step
did not immediately continue
his sequence.
...
THUMP.
...
He knew that sound.
...
JHARAA:
"Origin..."
...
A pause.
...
"Part II."
...
Halkan slowly looked up.
JHARAA stared at her.
...
"This was unexpected."
...
Halkan forced herself
onto one knee.
"What?"
...
JHARAA said nothing
for a moment.
Then...
"I did not come here
for you."
...
Halkan's eyes narrowed.
...
JHARAA looked through
the white mist.
Past her.
Past the trees.
As though searching
for something
that had never been there.
...
"I came looking
for Nafsan."
...
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...
Halkan froze.
"Nafsan?"
...
JHARAA:
"But..."
...
He looked around.
The forest.
The dimension.
The world
surrounding them.
...
"...I entered
the wrong dimension."
...
Halkan stared at him.
...
She had nearly died.
Jalatta and Safsan
had been forced to flee.
The Mist Forest
had become a battlefield.
...
And this creature...
had been lost?
...
Halkan:
"Who is Nafsan?"
...
JHARAA looked back at her.
...
No answer.
...
Then—
...
Something entered SIRNA.
...
Far beyond the Mist Forest...
SEENEE's head snapped upward.
...
He felt it.
...
Not something awakening.
Not something being born.
...
Something...
entering.
...
SEENEE:
"What was that?"
...
SCRATCH.
...
Somewhere...
a Reality Book
opened.
...
Back in the Mist Forest...
JHARAA turned.
Immediately.
...
Halkan noticed.
The creature
that had shown almost
no hesitation
throughout their battle...
had reacted.
...
Not to her.
Not to Part II.
...
To something else.
...
The mist behind JHARAA
became strangely still.
...
Then...
a figure appeared.
...
Tall.
Folded.
Humanoid...
if one was generous
with the word.
...
Its surface
looked wrong.
Not black.
Not shadow.
...
It resembled
the empty space left behind
after a sentence
had been erased.
...
Halkan stared.
...
JHARAA:
"...Nollveil."
...
SCRATCH.
...
Somewhere else...
letters appeared
inside SEENEE's Reality Book.
...
NOLLVEIL.
THE NULL VEIL.
...
SEENEE read silently.
...
A tall, folded silhouette
whose surface resembles
space after a sentence
has been erased.
...
Then...
ABILITY:
NULL INTERVAL.
...
Creates short intervals
where one chosen
physical effect
fails to complete.
...
LIMITATIONS:
CANNOT ERASE SOULS.
CANNOT ERASE ORIGIN.
CANNOT PERMANENTLY ERASE
ESTABLISHED REALITY.
...
SEENEE frowned.
...
"I didn't write that."
...
The Reality Book
continued.
...
Back inside the Mist Forest...
Nollveil looked at JHARAA.
Then at Halkan.
Then toward the direction
Safsan and Jalatta
had disappeared.
...
NOLLVEIL:
"I thought
you had already found Nafsan."
...
Halkan's expression changed.
That name again.
...
JHARAA:
"I haven't."
...
NOLLVEIL:
"Clearly."
...
Silence.
...
Nollveil looked
at the blood.
The broken ground.
The marks
left by JHARAA's sequences.
Then at Halkan.
...
"You are hunting
ordinary people."
...
JHARAA:
"They interfered."
...
NOLLVEIL:
"And?"
...
JHARAA said nothing.
...
NOLLVEIL:
"Was Nafsan among them?"
...
"No."
...
"Did they know
where Nafsan was?"
...
"No."
...
"Then explain
why you are still here."
...
Silence.
...
JHARAA looked toward Halkan.
...
NOLLVEIL:
"You entered
the wrong dimension."
...
"I know."
...
"Then correct the mistake."
...
JHARAA:
"She reached Part II."
...
Nollveil looked at Halkan.
...
For several seconds...
nothing.
...
Then:
"That changes nothing."
...
Halkan's fingers tightened.
...
NOLLVEIL:
"We did not enter SIRNA
for her."
...
Halkan's eyes narrowed.
...
We.
...
JHARAA:
"I wanted to see
what it became."
...
NOLLVEIL:
"Curiosity
is not our purpose."
...
JHARAA became silent.
...
Nollveil stepped closer.
...
For one brief moment...
the movement of the mist
around its body
failed to complete.
...
Not frozen.
Not erased.
...
The motion simply...
didn't finish.
...
Then everything continued.
...
NOLLVEIL:
"Leave this dimension."
...
JHARAA:
"...Understood."
...
Halkan forced herself
fully upright.
Her body screamed
against the movement.
...
"You're leaving?"
...
JHARAA turned toward her.
...
Halkan:
"After all this?"
...
JHARAA stared.
...
Then took one step.
The exact same length
as before.
...
STEP.
...
He stopped beside her.
...
Halkan did not move.
...
JHARAA:
"Do not misunderstand
what happened here."
...
His voice remained
completely calm.
...
"You are not alive
because you were lucky."
...
Halkan stared into
the featureless silhouette.
...
JHARAA:
"You are alive..."
...
STEP.
...
"...because I am
allowing you to live."
...
Halkan's expression hardened.
...
JHARAA turned away.
...
But this time...
she did not chase him.
...
She did not answer.
...
She simply watched.
...
Nollveil turned first.
JHARAA followed.
...
And then...
they were gone.
...
The Mist Forest
became quiet.
...
Too quiet.
...
Halkan remained standing.
Bleeding.
Exhausted.
Changed.
...
Her Origin had reached
Part II.
...
And somehow...
that was no longer
the most frightening thing
that had happened.
...
She whispered the name
they had left behind.
...
"Nafsan..."
...
...
Elsewhere.
...
SEENEE stared
at the Reality Book.
...
NOLLVEIL.
...
JHARAA.
...
NAFSAN.
...
The pages
had recorded what entered.
They had recorded
what could be observed.
...
But the question
SEENEE wanted answered...
remained empty.
...
FROM:
?????
...
SEENEE:
"Again?"
...
?????
...
He turned another page.
...
Nothing.
...
Another.
...
Nothing.
...
SEENEE closed the book.
...
"No."
...
He knew someone
whose entire existence
was dedicated
to irritating people
with questions.
...
...
SCRATCH.
...
GAAFATAA was sitting
with a pen in his hand.
He had barely looked up
before SEENEE
placed the Reality Book
in front of him.
...
GAAFATAA:
"That's an aggressive way
to say hello."
...
SEENEE:
"Where are they from?"
...
GAAFATAA looked at the book.
Then at SEENEE.
...
"Who?"
...
"Don't do that."
...
GAAFATAA smiled.
...
SEENEE opened the page.
NOLLVEIL.
JHARAA.
FROM:
?????
...
SEENEE:
"These creatures."
"Where are they coming from?"
...
GAAFATAA looked.
...
Then looked again.
...
For once...
his smile faded slightly.
...
SEENEE noticed.
...
"You know something."
...
GAAFATAA:
"Interesting accusation."
...
"Gaafataa."
...
"Seenee."
...
"Where are they from?"
...
GAAFATAA leaned back.
...
Then pointed at himself.
...
"Do you remember
what I'm called?"
...
SEENEE closed his eyes.
...
"Please don't."
...
GAAFATAA:
"THE QUESTIONER."
...
SEENEE:
"I know."
...
"Then why are you
asking me for answers?"
...
SEENEE stared at him.
...
GAAFATAA smiled again.
...
SEENEE:
"Something entered SIRNA."
...
No joke this time.
...
"Nollveil."
...
GAAFATAA listened.
...
"It knew JHARAA."
...
Silence.
...
"JHARAA said
he entered the wrong dimension."
...
GAAFATAA's pen stopped.
...
SEENEE:
"And he said
who he was looking for."
...
A pause.
...
"Nafsan."
...
...
GAAFATAA looked up.
...
SEENEE:
"Nollveil thought
JHARAA had already found him."
...
Silence.
...
"They're looking
for Nafsan."
...
GAAFATAA:
"Are they?"
...
SEENEE frowned.
...
"What does that mean?"
...
GAAFATAA picked up his pen.
...
SCRATCH.
...
He wrote:
NOLLVEIL.
JHARAA.
NAFSAN.
?????
...
Then looked at SEENEE.
...
GAAFATAA:
"I'm the one
who asks questions."
...
SEENEE:
"Yes."
...
"So..."
...
GAAFATAA tapped
the word
NAFSAN.
...
"...would you stop me
if I asked..."
...
SEENEE waited.
...
GAAFATAA:
"Are they after Nafsan?"
...
...
SEENEE stared at him.
...
"That's literally
what I just asked you."
...
GAAFATAA smiled.
...
"Good."
...
"Then we're finally
asking the same question."
...
SCRATCH.
...
CHAPTER 37
THE WRONG DIMENSION
ORIGIN.
PART II.
...
NOLLVEIL HAS ENTERED SIRNA.
...
JHARAA WAS NEVER
LOOKING FOR HALKAN.
...
HE WAS LOOKING FOR
NAFSAN.
...
FROM:
?????
...
QUESTION:
ARE THEY AFTER HIM?
...
NO ANSWER.