The chamber went silent.
Not peaceful.
Silent.
The kind of silence that came just before something terrible happened.
Rive stared at the portal above him.
The enormous black hand was still there.
Its fingers slowly curled around the edge of the rift.
CRACK.
Another fracture spread across the chamber ceiling.
Dust fell around them.
Lysara took a step backward.
"That thing shouldn't be able to enter this layer."
Vikram tightened his grip.
"Then we make sure it doesn't."
The lead Reaper raised its weapon.
"Stand aside."
Vikram didn't move.
"He's under my protection."
The Reaper turned toward him.
"Guardian of the Afterlife. Your authority does not apply here."
Vikram's expression hardened.
"Then we'll disagree."
Rive looked between them.
"Could we maybe argue after dealing with the giant nightmare hand?"
Nobody answered.
Rive sighed.
"Right. Bad timing."
The portal suddenly pulsed.
BOOM!
A wave of dark energy exploded across the chamber.
The Reapers remained standing.
Vikram was pushed backward.
Lysara crashed against a pillar.
Rive—
Didn't move.
He stood perfectly still.
His eyes widened.
Something inside his soul had changed.
He could hear something.
Not a voice.
A heartbeat.
Thump.
Rive touched his chest.
Thump.
The strange sensation spread through his entire body.
His soul began glowing.
First white.
Then black.
Then a strange mixture of both.
Lysara stared at him.
"Rive…"
Vikram immediately noticed.
"Don't move."
"Why?"
"Because something is happening to you."
Rive looked down.
His hands were becoming transparent.
But beneath the ghostly surface, three different energies were moving through him.
One felt warm.
One felt cold.
And the third—
Felt completely empty.
Rive suddenly saw three places at once.
His home.
The In-Between.
And something beyond both.
A place with no sky.
No ground.
No time.
Something was watching him from there.
Rive heard a whisper.
Open.
His eyes snapped open.
"Get out of my head."
The Reaper immediately raised its weapon.
"Everyone move away from him."
Vikram looked at the Reaper.
"What did you see?"
The Reaper's mask remained expressionless.
But its voice changed.
"His third layer is awakening."
Lysara's eyes widened.
"The Between…"
The Reaper nodded.
"The forbidden state."
Rive's body suddenly lifted from the ground.
Dark spiritual energy spiraled around him.
The floor beneath him cracked.
Vikram shouted.
"Rive!"
"I can't control it!"
His voice echoed strangely.
Almost as if another voice was speaking beneath his own.
The portal reacted.
The enormous creature stopped crawling forward.
For the first time—
It hesitated.
Rive looked up.
His eyes had changed.
One glowed with pale light.
The other was surrounded by darkness.
And between them appeared a thin silver line.
The Reaper took one step backward.
"That is impossible."
Rive looked at his hands.
A strange power gathered around his fingers.
He instinctively reached toward the portal.
BOOM!
The entire rift shook.
The giant creature was pushed backward.
Everyone froze.
Rive stared at the portal.
"I… did that?"
Vikram didn't answer.
He was staring at Rive with concern.
"Rive."
"What?"
"Stop."
Rive tried.
Nothing happened.
The energy continued growing.
His soul was no longer simply reacting.
It was awakening.
The chamber began breaking apart.
Lysara shouted,
"If he loses control, this entire area could collapse!"
The lead Reaper raised its weapon.
"We must eliminate him."
Vikram immediately stepped forward.
"No."
"He is becoming a threat."
"He's still Rive."
The Reaper prepared to strike.
Rive suddenly looked toward them.
His expression was calm.
Too calm.
"I don't want to hurt anyone."
The darkness around him intensified.
"But…"
He looked toward the creature inside the portal.
"…I think something inside me does."
The creature suddenly roared.
The sound shook the entire In-Between.
And Rive smiled faintly.
Not because he was happy.
Because for the first time—
He wasn't afraid.
A final wave of energy exploded from his body.
The chamber disappeared beneath the light.
And somewhere deep beyond the three worlds—
Something ancient opened its eyes.
"The Tri-Vessel has awakened."