Following the Builder was like walking in the shadow of a mountain. He moved with a quiet, inexorable purpose, his long strides eating up the distance without any hint of haste. He didn't speak, and I didn't dare to. The urgency I had seen in his eyes was a silent command, a clear signal that this was not the time for questions. My own thoughts were a chaotic whirlwind, but I suppressed them, focusing only on the simple, physical act of keeping pace.
Our path was a familiar one. We left the quiet, functional district of his faction and headed toward the gleaming white spire at the heart of the city. The Administrator Faction Hall. The very sight of it sent a phantom throb of pain through my jaw, a memory of my last, chaotic visit.
The sterile, silent halls were just as intimidating as I remembered. Administrators in crisp, grey uniforms moved like specters, their focus absolute, their movements efficient. As we passed the main reception desk, a familiar flash of mint-green hair caught my eye.
It was Miyuri. She wasn't sitting idly; she was a whirlwind of structured chaos. She stood before a massive, floating map of the city, directing two junior administrators, pointing at sections of the grid and issuing a series of rapid-fire commands. Stacks of parchment and data-slates were piled high on her desk, a testament to the sheer volume of work she was shouldering. She looked up as we passed, her eyes momentarily widening in surprise to see me.
She gave me a quick, tired but genuine smile and a little wave. I waved back, a silent exchange of camaraderie. Seeing her so immersed in her work, so capably managing what I could only assume were the logistical nightmares of a city-wide expansion, gave me a flicker of comfort. The project was moving forward. Our mission, Silas's sacrifice, had not been in vain. It was working.
My small moment of reassurance was cut short as the Builder led me away from the public areas, toward a restricted corridor guarded by two heavily armored sentinels. They recognized the Builder instantly, snapping to attention and stepping aside without a word, opening a path to a single, unadorned elevator.
The ride upward was silent and unnervingly smooth. There were no buttons, no floors indicated. The elevator simply ascended, the pressure in my ears the only proof of our rapid climb. We were going to the very top of the spire, a place I doubted many people in the city even knew existed.
The doors slid open, revealing not an office, but a vast, circular chamber. The walls were made of a seamless, floor-to-ceiling crystal that offered a breathtaking, panoramic 360-degree view of the entire city and the grey, desolate wasteland beyond. In the center of the room, a large, round table of polished black stone stood, surrounded by four high-backed chairs. Three of them were already occupied.
My breath caught in my throat.
They were the ones from the portal. The reinforcements. The Founders.
The silent, mountain-like giant with the obsidian shield strapped to his back. The stern-faced man with ashy hair, his presence radiating a dry, intense heat. And the woman with the piercing golden eyes and long, white hair, her armor still bound by faint, shimmering chains. They were just as I remembered them from the flashes of memory before I lost consciousness—beings of immense, world-shaking power.
The Builder didn't hesitate. He walked to the empty chair and took his seat, completing the circle. And then, as one, all four of them turned their gazes upon me.
I froze just inside the doorway, feeling like a microbe under a microscope. The sheer, combined weight of their attention was a physical force, a pressure that made the air thick and hard to breathe. I was no longer Kael, the Gold-ranked resident. I was an unknown variable, a piece on a board so far above my understanding that I couldn't even see the edges.
The silence stretched, becoming unbearable. I finally found my voice, the words feeling small and insignificant in the vast, silent chamber.
"You… you wanted to see me?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper. "What is this about?"
The giant with the obsidian shield was the first to speak. His voice was a deep, resonant rumble, like the grinding of tectonic plates. He wasn't looking at me, but at the Builder.
"You didn't tell your new faction member why we are here, Krauss?"
The name hit me with the force of a physical blow. Krauss. The Builder had a name. This silent, elemental force of nature, this god of creation who had seemed more a concept than a person, had a simple, solid name. It was the most shocking revelation I'd had since waking up.
Before the Builder—Krauss—could respond, the woman with the golden eyes spoke up, her voice energetic and surprisingly bright, a stark contrast to the grim atmosphere.
"Gezir, don't be so harsh on Krauss," she chided the giant, a playful smile touching her lips. "You know what his personality is like. He probably considered 'follow me' to be a full and detailed briefing, and—"
"Lunet. Gezir."
The voice of the ashy-haired man was sharp, like the crackle of dying embers. It wasn't loud, but it cut through Lunet's cheerful chatter instantly, silencing her. "This is not the time for games. We are here for a very important discussion."
Lunet's smile vanished, and Gezir's gaze became even more stoic. They both fell silent, their brief, familiar exchange over as quickly as it had begun. It was a fleeting glimpse into a relationship forged over an unimaginable length of time, a dynamic of old comrades who knew each other's every flaw and strength.
And then, their eyes were back on me. Four pairs of them. The Builder's, sharp and calculating. Gezir's, steady and unreadable as stone. Lunet's, her playful energy now replaced by a piercing, golden intensity. And Ashe's, the ashy-haired man, burning with a cold, pragmatic fire.
I stood there, pinned in place by the weight of their collective gaze. The breathtaking view of the city around me, the city they had all fought and bled to create, offered no comfort. All I could feel was the suffocating pressure of an unspoken question, a terrible, important truth that had brought the four most powerful beings in my world together. And for some reason, I was standing at the very center of it.