The world beyond the threshold was silent.
Not like the Abyss. There, the silence was absence. Here… it was tension. Like the held breath before the storm.
Eidan advanced slowly. The ground beneath his feet was black stone, streaked with veins of gold that pulsed with a dim light. The air was thick, unbreathable, as if compressed for centuries. Everywhere he looked, the landscape seemed distorted, like a faded memory of what was once real.
He was back.
But not to the world he remembered.
[Current Location: Floor 0 – The Crossroads of Omissions]
[Synchronizing…]
An ethereal window appeared before him, flashing with unstable symbols. Eidan froze. The system… the same as the Tower. It was still active.
Once, that system had ignored him. Now, it reacted to his every breath.
[Active Fragments Detected: 143]
[User Profile: Recognized – Anomalous Subject]
[Danger: MAXIMUM]
[Surveillance Activated]
"Surveillance?" he whispered. But he had no time to consider it.
The ground shook.
A figure emerged from the gray mists. It was humanoid, but faceless, as if sculpted from clay. Its entire surface was covered with symbols similar to those in the Archive. Threads of black ink dripped from its hands.
[Retrieval Entity – Keeper of the Crossroads]
[Class: ???]
[Order: Eliminate Anomalies]
The creature raised its arm. A whirlwind of dark energy formed in its hand, and in an instant it hurled it at Eidan.
But Eidan didn't move.
Or rather: something inside him moved for him.
His body reacted instinctively, leaning back, letting the attack graze his face. His feet planted the ground, his hands moving in a lethal dance. The sword wasn't there. But the techniques were.
"Technique: Silent Wolf Step."
He'd never learned it. But now... it felt familiar, natural. As if he'd always known it.
He appeared behind the creature in a flash.
"Technique: Flesh-Cracking Claw."
His hands moved like blades. The clay flesh cracked. Ink spattered everywhere.
The creature staggered, but did not fall.
"Forgotten..." it hissed in a voice that had no mouth. "You were not supposed to exist."
Eidan clenched his jaw. His heart pounded, but not from fear. From hunger.
"And yet, here I am."
A blast of energy surrounded him. The fragments reacted, hissing within him like a thousand souls on fire. He raised his arm, and a shadow of a sword materialized in his hand.
It wasn't just one technique. It was all of them.
With a scream, he sliced through the air.
The wave of the attack swept over the Keeper, shattering him into a thousand shards that dissolved into nothingness.
Silence.
[Absorbed Fragment: Keeper's Technique – Ink Wall]
[New Skill Available]
Eidan knelt. Power filled him like a tide.
"I am no longer a man without power..." he whispered. "I am an echo of all that has been... and will be forgotten."
The Crossroads began to crumble. The stone crumbled, the symbols faded.
[Open Path: Level 1 – The Thorns of Rebirth]
Before him, another door.
But this time, it wasn't made of shadow. It was carved from the wood of a dead tree, and at its center shone a golden eye.
Eidan smiled for the first time since touching the book.
"Wait for me."
And he crossed that threshold too.