The corridor stretched endlessly before them.

  The walls, once solid stone, had begun to shift—black veins of void energy pulsed faintly, cracks of deep purple light seeping through. The air was thicker, charged with something James couldn't describe. It wasn't just magic—it felt alive, like the dungeon itself was watching.

  Nobody spoke.

  There was a weight pressing on them, a sense of wrongness that deepened with every step. Even Garrick, who had remained steady through all their trials, tightened his grip on his axe.

  Then, they reached the room.

  James stepped in first, and his breath hitched.

  The space before them wasn’t normal.

  A massive chamber stretched outward, yet there were no walls—no ceiling, no floor. Instead, a vast expanse of stars surrounded them, swirling with cosmic blues and purples. A nebula of shifting light and shadow, stretching infinitely in all directions.

  At the center of it all—

  A path.

  A thin, smooth bridge of black stone, extending into nothingness. It wasn't connected to anything on the other side. It simply... ended. Vanishing into the void.

  “...I don’t like this,” Lyra murmured.

  Lillian took a cautious step forward, peering over the edge. “It’s just… space? But, like, actual space.”

  James felt something stir inside him.

  A pulse.

  His tattoos ignited, glowing a brilliant, searing white.

  He clenched his fists as the energy rushed through him, stronger than ever before. His breathing quickened. The void was reacting to him—no, it was recognizing him.

  Then—

  He appeared.

  A figure materialized at the end of the path, where the bridge met the abyss.

  At first, it was just shadows, shifting and flickering, forming into something almost human. Then, the details sharpened.

  The man was tall—too tall, his proportions subtly wrong. His body was not solid, but instead a swirling mass of darkness, flecked with distant stars. His face was featureless, save for two piercing white eyes, hollow and endless.

  He didn’t move. He simply existed, as if he had always been there.

  Then, a voice.

  Not with words.

  Not with sound.

  A feeling.

  A presence pressing into James’s mind.

  “You have come far.”

  James staggered, clutching his head.

  The others reacted instantly, weapons drawn—

  “Stop!” James hissed, holding up a hand.

  The presence wasn’t hostile.

  It was… curious.

  James swallowed hard and looked back at the figure. The moment their gazes met, his tattoos flared brighter, burning like hot embers against his skin.

  The man’s head tilted slightly.

  Then, again, the voice.

  “You bear the mark of the Forgotten.”

  James’s pulse thundered.

  “The… what?” he managed.

  The figure didn’t answer. Instead, he raised a hand, fingers elongated and unnatural. A tendril of void energy stretched forward—

  James tensed, but the touch wasn’t painful.

  Instead, his tattoos reacted violently, the symbols shifting, warping.

  Memories flashed through his mind—visions of shattered worlds, of figures like this one, standing before him in an endless abyss.

  Then, the being spoke again, its voice like a whisper in the vastness.

  “Tell me… Do you hear them yet?”

  James felt something stirring in the back of his mind.

  A whisper.

  A voice just beyond his reach.

  And for the first time, he realized—

  This wasn't just a dungeon.

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  This place was something else entirely.

  The whisper lingered in James’s mind, sinking beneath his skin like an echo of something ancient—something he wasn’t sure he was ready to understand.

  The others stood frozen behind him, weapons still drawn, but they weren’t moving.

  They couldn’t.

  James realized, with a jolt of horror, that time had stopped for them.

  Lillian’s bow was half-raised. Riona had a foot slightly off the ground. Garrick’s fingers had just begun to tighten around his axe. But none of them moved.

  Only James remained free.

  And the void-like figure was waiting.

  “Do you hear them yet?”

  The voice slipped through his mind again, pushing deeper. This time, James swore he almost heard something—whispers at the edges of his consciousness, too faint to make sense of.

  He clenched his fists, forcing himself to steady his breathing. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  The being’s hollow eyes seemed to glow brighter, like distant stars burning in the dark.

  “You will.”

  James shivered. “Who are you?”

  The figure didn’t answer immediately. Instead, the tendril of void energy extending from its hand twisted, stretching further toward James. The moment it brushed against his arm, his tattoos burned hotter, the glowing runes shifting and reshaping as if reacting to something long-forgotten.

  A flood of visions surged through his mind.

  A world swallowed by darkness.Cities crumbling into nothingness.Figures like this one—tall, hollow-eyed beings—standing among the stars, watching as existence unraveled.

  Then—something worse.

  Something beyond them.

  A presence deeper than the void itself.

  James gasped, stumbling back as the vision shattered, leaving him breathless.

  The void figure lowered its hand.

  “You carry the mark.”

  James's heart thundered in his chest. “What does that mean?”

  “It means you are already chosen.”

  James felt his breath hitch.

  The whispers in the back of his mind grew louder, just for a moment.

  Then—

  The others began moving again.

  Riona blinked in confusion. Lillian’s bow snapped up in a ready position. Garrick took another step forward, his axe raised.

  Time had resumed.

  Lyra’s eyes darted between James and the figure. “Uh, what the hell just happened?”

  James didn’t answer—because he wasn’t sure himself.

  The void-being slowly lowered its head, as if acknowledging their presence now.

  Then, the stars behind it shifted—the nebula twisted, rippling outward like a disturbance in water.

  It was leaving.

  James took a step forward. “Wait!”

  The being paused, tilting its head slightly.

  James struggled for words, his mind still reeling. There were a thousand questions—too many to ask. But one burned more than the rest.

  “…What happens now?”

  The being’s hollow gaze seemed to stare straight through him.

  Then—

  “You will understand soon.”

  And with that, it was gone.

  The stars swallowed it, the nebulous void folding in on itself until the path before them was empty once more.

  The only sign it had ever been there was the faint hum still lingering in James’s tattoos.

  Silence stretched between them.

  Then—

  Riona exhaled sharply. “Okay. I’m just gonna say it—what the fuck was that?”

  James shook his head, running a hand over his arm. His tattoos still glowed faintly, but they were fading now, returning to their usual dim markings.

  “…I don’t know.”

  Garrick narrowed his eyes. “But it had something to do with you.”

  James didn’t deny it.

  Lyra stepped closer, watching him carefully. “Your tattoos were burning white when that thing touched you. You know something about this, don’t you?”

  James hesitated.

  Did he?

  He had seen something. Felt something. But the answers were still just out of reach, like a puzzle with missing pieces.

  Finally, he shook his head. “I don’t know anything for sure. But… I think I was supposed to see that.”

  Lillian let out a slow breath. “Alright. So, we just… move on? Pretend we didn’t have a creepy mind-melting chat with a void guy?”

  James turned back to the path.

  The bridge leading into the stars was still there.

  But now, at the far end, another door had appeared.

  It hadn’t been there before.

  James swallowed hard. “…I think we’re meant to keep going.”

  Garrick grunted. “Great. Let’s hope the next room isn’t full of more reality-warping nightmares.”

  Lillian sighed. “Don’t jinx it.”

  They stepped forward, leaving the vast void behind them—

  But James couldn’t shake the feeling that something had changed.

  That whatever path they were on—

  They had just taken another step toward something far, far bigger than any dungeon.