Zane did not disappear far.
He never did.
Xin realized that a few minutes after the sky calmed and the pressure lifted. The world felt normal again, but that was the problem. Too normal. Like a predator choosing to walk instead of run because it already knew where the prey would end up.
Rion pulled himself fully upright, brushing dust from his coat. The jeep was ruined beyond repair. The engine block had been split open like a rib cage.
"We are walking," Rion said.
Xin nodded. "He wants that."
They started moving down the road on foot.
At first, nothing happened.
No footsteps behind them. No presence above them. Just the sound of their own breathing and boots crunching against gravel. Xin hated it more than the attack. Zane was patient now.
That meant he was in control.
Kurai whispered inside Rion, quieter than before.
He is guiding us. Not chasing.
"Toward what," Xin asked.
Rion did not answer immediately. His eyes were scanning the land ahead. The road sloped downward, leading into a wide stretch of dead earth. No buildings. No trees. Just cracked soil and old stone formations jutting out like broken teeth.
"This place," Rion said finally. "It has memory."
Xin frowned. "What does that mean."
"It means something terrible has already happened here," Rion replied. "And the world remembers."
They felt Zane again an hour later.
Not close. Not far.
Above.
Xin stopped walking. His chest tightened.
"He's pushing," Xin said.
The air thickened suddenly. Clouds compressed into a low ceiling. Wind picked up, not random, but directional. Always nudging them forward. Always cutting off the idea of turning back.
Zane's voice drifted down from nowhere.
"Wrong way," he said casually.
Xin spun around.
Zane hovered above a ridge behind them, cape flowing, arms crossed.
"Don't bother trying to run backward," Zane continued. "I don't enjoy repeating myself."
Rion met his gaze. "You want us somewhere specific."
Zane smiled. "Smart."
He pointed ahead.
"Keep walking."
Xin clenched his jaw and started forward again. Rion followed. Zane drifted along above them like a shadow tied to the sky, never attacking, never leaving.
A shepherd.
The land changed as they moved.
The ground became darker. The air smelled faintly metallic, like old blood soaked into stone. Ruins appeared. Not cities. Something older. Massive slabs half buried in the earth, covered in symbols that no one alive remembered carving.
Xin touched one as they passed.
It felt warm.
"Rion," he said. "This place is wrong."
Rion nodded. "This is not Dive. This is before them."
Kurai stirred again, louder now.
I remember this ground. Not as it is. As it was.
Zane laughed softly from above. "Good. Let the demon remember. It makes this better."
They reached the edge of a vast depression. This was wider. Shallower. A natural basin carved into the earth, stretching for kilometers. The center was smooth, like something had melted the land flat long ago.
The sky above it was darker than everywhere else, clouds rotating slowly like they were circling a drain.
Zane descended and landed at the basin's edge.
"This is far enough," he said.
Xin stopped. "What is this place."
Zane looked out across the basin, eyes reflecting the dim light.
"A scar," he replied. "One of the first."
He turned back toward them.
"This is where entities learned they could die."
Rion's blood ran cold.
Kurai went silent.
For the first time since meeting Zane, Xin felt something close to doubt.
"You didn't bring us here to kill us," Xin said.
Zane nodded approvingly. "No. I brought you here to be seen."
He raised his head slightly, like he was listening to something beyond the sky.
"She's already watching," Zane continued. "She always watches when this ground wakes up."
Xin understood then.
"…Selena."
Zane's smile widened. "There it is."
The wind stopped again.
Time did not freeze, but it slowed, like the world was holding its breath.
Far above the basin, reality shimmered faintly.
Xin felt it. Rion felt it. Even Kurai stirred, uneasy and aching with memory.
Zane spread his arms slightly.
"I don't need to hunt you," he said. "You're bait now."
Xin stepped forward despite himself. "If you want her, come get her yourself."
Zane laughed. "Oh, I will."
He looked straight at Rion.
"But first, I want her to choose."
Zane stepped back into the air and drifted upward, positioning himself above the basin like a king over an arena.
"Walk down," he said. "Stand in the center."
"And if we don't," Xin asked.
Zane's eyes flashed briefly.
"Then I eat everything behind you until you do."
Silence followed.
Xin looked at Rion.
Rion looked back.
Neither of them argued.
They started walking down into the basin.
High above, unseen by any human eye, Selena Veyra watched the scar in the earth awaken.