The hand kept descending.
Slowly.
Patiently.
Each movement tore another crack through the sky, spreading red fractures across the heavens like wounds that refused to close. The pressure crushing the ruined platform had become unbearable now, heavy enough to force broken stone deeper into the ground while a sharp ringing spread through everyone's ears.
Sam lay against the shattered floor, blood staining the cracks beneath him as weak blue light flickered violently across his skin. Every breath sounded painful. Uneven. Fragile.
Eli stood in front of him anyway.
Even as his legs trembled.
Even as fear clawed through him hard enough to blur his vision.
Above—
the enormous hand continued lowering itself toward them, its massive fingers twitching unnaturally as shadows bent around it.
Watching.
Choosing.
The Watchmen were barely holding together now.
One knelt beside a collapsed barrier, his hands shaking uncontrollably as blood dripped from beneath his hood. Another laughed weakly through broken breaths, pain twisting his face as he stared upward at the opening sky.
"…finished…" he whispered hoarsely. Then louder—almost hysterically—"We're finished!"
No one answered him.
Because no one could deny it anymore.
The hand had crossed.
And reality was losing.
Another Watchman blinked hard against the blood running into his eye before lowering his head in prayer.
"Please…" he whispered shakily. "Please let Eli survive…"
But even his voice carried no hope.
Only desperation.
Far beyond the fracture—
Ethan felt everything.
Every scream.
Every tremor.
Every second his father stood beneath that thing alone.
Inside the prison consuming his consciousness, Ethan slammed violently against the invisible restraints again and again, his entire body shaking from the effort.
"MOVE!" he screamed.
The darkness around him cracked faintly.
But not enough.
Not nearly enough.
Nearby, Elias sat motionless within the fading blue light.
Or what remained of it.
His frame looked thinner now, unstable, pieces of white-blue light peeling from him slowly like burning paper dissolving into ash. His eyes stared downward, unfocused, distant—as though he wasn't seeing the fracture anymore.
He was somewhere else.
Somewhere older.
Somewhere worse.
"…Elias…"
No response.
Ethan's breathing broke unevenly as another violent tremor shook the fractured world around them.
"ELIAS!"
Still nothing.
Then Ethan saw it.
Not through sight.
Memory.
Fragments exploded violently across his mind—
A younger Elias standing alone beneath a broken sky.
Red storms swallowing entire cities.
People screaming.
The Eye opening above the world for the first time.
And Elias—
fighting it.
Not winning.
Surviving.
Barely.
Ethan's eyes widened in horror as the memories continued crashing into him.
Elias screaming while blue light tore through his own body.
His hands bleeding as he forced the fracture shut.
The sky collapsing.
The world almost ending.
And the cost—
everyone.
Survived.
Elias.
Devolved.
Ethan's breath stopped.
"…you fought this thing alone…?"
The memory shattered instantly.
Elias finally moved.
Slowly.
His head lifted.
And Ethan froze at the expression on his face.
Empty.
Not emotionless.
Exhausted beyond emotion.
His eyes reflected nothing now except old terror buried too deep to heal.
Then quietly—
almost like talking to himself—
Elias whispered:
"…it didn't have a hand before."
The words sent cold through Ethan instantly.
Because Elias was afraid.
Truly afraid.
Above the ruined platform—
the massive hand lowered another few meters.
The movement alone shattered half the remaining barriers protecting the Watchmen. Blue fire burst apart violently as shockwaves ripped through the ruins, vibrating painfully through ribs and bone.
Several Watchmen were thrown backward screaming.
One didn't get back up.
Sam coughed violently, blood spilling down his chin as he struggled to push himself upward.
"Papa…" he whispered weakly.
Eli turned immediately, dropping beside him for half a second despite the horror above them.
Sam's pupils trembled violently. His lips parted twice before words finally escaped him, small and breaking.
"…I'm scared…"
The confession nearly shattered Eli.
His jaw locked hard enough to hurt as he grabbed Sam's shaking hand tighter.
"I know."
Above them—
the fingers twitched again.
Closer now.
Large enough to swallow the entire platform whole.
The air screamed.
And suddenly—
their body stopped running.
Far beyond the fracture—
Ethan froze.
"No…"
The transformation stood motionless beneath the storm, its head tilted upward slightly as if listening to something beyond reality itself.
Then slowly—
it began walking away.
Away from the fracture.
Away from Eli.
Ethan's eyes widened in pure panic.
"No! NO!"
He slammed himself against the restraints again so violently the darkness around him shook.
"You said the connection had to remain stable!"
No answer came.
Only silence.
Then finally—
the cold voice responded:
"The probability of survival has fallen below acceptable levels."
Ethan stopped breathing.
"You're abandoning them…?"
Silence.
And somehow—
that silence answered everything.
Something inside Ethan broke.
Not fear.
Not grief.
Something deeper.
His body trembled violently as rage flooded through every part of him, raw enough to drown out pain itself.
"You don't get to decide that!"
The darkness cracked.
A massive shockwave exploded outward from Ethan's body inside the prison, blue and red energy tearing through the restraints around him.
Far away, Elias's eyes widened slightly.
For the first time in ages—
emotion returned to them.
"…Ethan…"
Ethan screamed.
Not controlled anymore.
Every memory flooding through him at once.
Valo smiling at him.
Sam crying.
Eli protecting them.
Elias standing alone against the Eye years ago while he burned.
And suddenly—
Ethan understood.
Elias never survived because he was stronger.
He survived because he refused to leave people behind.
The realization hit hard enough to hurt.
Ethan turned toward Elias violently.
"HELP ME!"
The fractured world shook again.
Elias stared at him silently, white-blue light flickering weakly across his broken frame.
His breathing looked uneven now too.
Afraid.
Hesitating.
Like part of him truly believed resisting was pointless.
Then another scream echoed through the fracture.
Sam.
Elias flinched violently.
And something changed.
His fingers slowly tightened.
The fading blue light around him pulsed once.
Then again.
Stronger.
His expression darkened—not with fear this time—
resolve.
Painfully earned resolve.
"…you never listen…" Elias whispered shakily. Eli. His definitely your son.
Then slowly—
he stood.
His legs nearly gave out instantly.
Cracks of white-blue light spread violently beneath his feet as his unstable frame struggled to hold itself together, trembling against the storm surrounding them.
But this time—
he didn't sit back down.