The Archivist led them deeper into the tower.
Vikram remained suspicious.
Rive was simply trying to keep up.
"So, let me understand," Rive said. "I accidentally erased a second, entered a creepy library, and paid for fixing it with a memory."
"Correct," said the Archivist.
"And now I'm supposed to learn how this works."
"Correct."
"Do I get a student discount?"
"No."
"Worth asking."
The Archivist stopped beside a circular table.
At its center lay a black book.
Its cover had no title.
The moment Rive approached, the book opened by itself.
Three symbols appeared on the first page.
A white circle.
A black circle.
And a silver line connecting them.
Rive recognized the pattern.
His three layers.
The Archivist placed one finger on the page.
"The living layer remembers what was."
The white circle glowed.
"The dead layer holds what remains."
The black circle darkened.
"And the Between holds what could be."
The silver line began shining.
"Your soul touches all three. That makes you capable of crossing boundaries other souls cannot cross."
Rive folded his arms.
"Which sounds useful until the universe starts charging me memories."
"The universe is not charging you."
The Archivist leaned closer.
"Something is taking them."
Vikram's eyes narrowed.
"What do you mean?"
The Archivist closed the book.
"The Archive records every moment that disappears. But the moment you erased was different."
"Different how?" Rive asked.
"It was not empty."
The clocks around them began ticking faster.
"Something was hiding inside that second."
Rive remembered the enormous hand reaching through the portal.
The unnatural voice.
The creature that had hesitated when his power awakened.
"Something from beyond the worlds?"
The Archivist didn't answer.
Instead, it opened the black book again.
A new page appeared.
Three names were written across it.
RIVE.
VIKRAM.
ARIN.
Rive stared.
"Why is Arin's name here?"
The Archivist ran a finger across the page.
"Because your missing second did not merely interrupt time."
The name ARIN began fading.
"It connected two moments that should never have touched."
Rive stepped forward.
"Which moments?"
The Archivist looked directly at him.
"The moment you awakened…"
The silver line on the page cracked.
"…and the moment your friend became a Devourer."
Rive's blood ran cold.
"That happened before I awakened."
"According to the sequence you remember."
The Archivist turned the page.
A new image appeared.
Arin stood alone in a dark room.
His eyes were closed.
Black energy spiraled around him.
Behind him stood a second figure.
Tall.
Faceless.
Its hand rested on Arin's shoulder.
Rive recognized the shape.
The same enormous hand that had emerged from the portal.
"No…"
Vikram stepped closer to the book.
"That's impossible."
The Archivist closed it.
"Your friend's transformation was not the beginning of the problem."
Silence settled over the room.
"It was the consequence."
Rive clenched his fists.
"Consequence of what?"
The Archivist's clocks stopped.
For the first time, its voice sounded almost afraid.
"Of someone opening a door before you were born."