They sat in uneasy silence around the remains of a broken campfire, its charred wood smoldering faintly, glowing like dying embers beneath a pale red sky. No one spoke at first. No one moved. The air itself felt too heavy, like the world was holding its breath — or waiting to collapse.
Peter was the first to break the silence. "I… I heard it again. The whisper."
Everyone turned.
"It was saying something new," he added, his voice cracking slightly. "'Even infinity forgets its beginning.'"
Lucy's eyes narrowed. "What does that even mean?"
Tom didn't answer. He was staring at the sky. The clouds above were swirling unnaturally, edged with crimson and flickering silver veins of light. Not natural lightning. Not a natural sky. Not anymore.
"It means," said Frank slowly, "we're being watched. Not by Renex. Not by the Trio. By something older."
Kitty hugged her knees tighter. "Older than infinity?"
Jack scoffed, trying to mask the chill crawling down his spine. "That's not even possible. Infinity is… endless."
"Not always," murmured Frank. "Even infinity has shadows."
The whisper again. They all heard it now. That same line.
Even infinity has shadows.
It wasn't spoken. It echoed inside them, crawling along their glyphs, sliding under their skin like frost in their veins. Something stirred inside Susan's chest — a tightness she hadn't felt before. A name on the edge of memory. A voice that didn't belong to her.
Marcus stood up slowly. "We can't just sit here."
Tom nodded. "We keep moving. The Vault of Origin is still ahead. If there's a place we'll find answers… it's there."
As they stood and packed their things, a low hum rippled through the ground. Not a quake — not yet — but something close. A warning.
"We're not alone out here," Lucy whispered.
Frank looked toward the distant mountains, their peaks jagged like broken fangs. "Velmorith is moving. I can feel it."
Peter winced. "Wait — one of the Monster Trio? You said they weren't ready to reveal themselves yet."
Frank didn't look back. "They aren't. But they're watching. And testing."
A gust of wind rushed past them, carrying with it a faint scent — ash and ink. Jack turned slowly, and for just a heartbeat, he saw something — a ripple in the trees, like the forest blinked.
And then it was gone.
"Did anyone else see—?"
"No," Kitty said quickly. "Let's not start seeing things now."
But Tom had seen it too. Not clearly, but enough. A blur, shaped like a person. Or what used to be one.
The road ahead twisted toward a canyon — one lined with glowing stones etched with strange glyphs. As they walked, each stone pulsed faintly as they passed. Not with power. With recognition.
"It knows us," said Susan, brushing her hand across one. "These glyphs… they're calling out."
"They're remembering," Frank said. "This path was made for those who would awaken the final keys."
Lucy frowned. "Final keys to what?"
Frank didn't answer.
He was staring at the final stone in the line — taller than the rest, cracked down the middle, as if struck by something ancient and violent.
A symbol was etched at its core.
A shape none of them had seen before — not in books, not in dreams, not in memories. It was shaped like a spiral, folding into itself, with seven smaller glyphs around its edge.
Kitty touched it… and instantly staggered back, gasping.
"What did you see?" Marcus caught her.
Her eyes flicked open — golden for a moment — and she whispered, "A city… burning… and one of us standing at the center of the flames… smiling."
Silence followed.
Then Jack muttered, "We're not ready for whatever this is."
Frank nodded. "No one ever is."