The archway breathed.
Not like a wind.
Not like a machine.
Like something alive.
A warm exhale drifted from the darkness below, carrying the scent of scorched cocoa, damp stone, and something older,something more metallic and sweet, like blood mixed with caramel.
Felix felt the key inside his chest throb once.
Hard.
A pulse that rippled through his bones.
He stumbled, grabbing Nia's arm for balance.
She didn't let go.
"Felix," she whispered, "you don't have to go down there."
But her voice betrayed her.
She already knew he didn't have a choice.
---
Ambrose Vellum stood beside the new passage, the swirling amber light reflecting off his immaculate coat.
He looked like a guide.
Or a priest.
Or a scientist awaiting the next phase of an experiment.
"The first layer of the Bitter District," Ambrose said softly, "is not dangerous."
Aya scoffed.
"Why does that sound like a lie you practiced in the mirror?"
Ambrose smiled, serene as ever.
"I do not lie to children."
Tomas muttered, "Well, that's reassuring in absolutely no way."
Leo crossed his arms, trying a little—but failing—to mask his fear.
"What exactly is down there?"
Ambrose's eyes warmed with something that looked disturbingly like nostalgia.
"Memories," he said.
"Forgotten machinery. Abandoned flavors. The earliest roots of Sucrovia."
He paused.
"And the beings who once tended them."
Lina's pencil slipped from her fingers.
"Beings…?"
Ambrose didn't elaborate.
He didn't need to.
Felix already knew.
He had seen their shadows.
---
The passage yawned wider as if responding to the group's fear.
Nia stepped forward first, planting herself between Felix and the darkness.
"No one is going anywhere until Felix can stand without collapsing."
Felix opened his mouth to insist he was fine
—but the moment he took a step, his vision swayed.
Nia caught him by the shoulders.
"See? Not fine."
Aya placed a hand on Felix's forehead.
"You're freezing. Also sweating. Also turning a little gray."
Leo grimaced.
"Is that, uh… normal? For someone who just absorbed a key made of chocolate-steel?"
Ambrose nodded.
"Yes."
Tomas threw his hands up.
"You're the LAST person who should be deciding what 'normal' means!"
Ambrose folded his hands behind his back again—a gesture Felix was starting to realize meant I already planned for this.
"The connection between Felix and the District is still stabilizing," Ambrose explained.
"The pain has passed, but the bond is fresh. He needs time to adjust."
Felix swallowed hard.
The taste of charred sugar lingered on his tongue.
"How long?" he asked quietly.
"How long until it feels… normal?"
Ambrose studied him carefully.
"In truth?"
A pause.
"It may never feel normal. But it will become familiar."
Felix exhaled shakily.
He didn't know if that was comforting or horrifying.
---
For a moment, silence settled between them.
Heavy.
Uneasy.
Scented with chocolate and dread.
Then Lina spoke softly, barely audible.
"Felix… did you really see something down there? In the vision?"
Felix hesitated.
Everyone was looking at him now—Nia, Aya, Tomas, Leo, Lina.
Waiting.
Trusting him.
He tasted bitterness again.
It clung to the back of his throat.
"I saw tunnels," he said quietly.
"And shadows. And a man… or something like a man. Wearing a cracked mask."
Leo paled.
"Like… a person?"
Felix shook his head slowly.
"Not exactly."
Aya's voice trembled.
"What did it want?"
Felix looked toward the darkness.
The passage hummed softly in response.
"It wanted me to come home."
Nia's grip on him tightened instantly.
"No. No, no, no—Felix, listen to me. That's not your home. You're NOT going alone. You're not going at all unless we all go together."
Ambrose smiled approvingly.
"Good. You will need each other."
Tomas frowned.
"We… we're really doing this, aren't we?"
Aya groaned.
"I hate this city. I hate chocolate. I hate everything."
Leo took a slow breath.
"I'm scared. But I'm not leaving Felix."
Lina nodded.
"Me either."
Felix's chest tightened.
Not from pain.
From gratitude.
And fear.
---
Ambrose raised a hand, and the darkness shifted, forming faint caramel-colored lights along the descending walls looking like glowing sugar veins guiding a path.
"The first layer awaits," Ambrose said.
He looked at Felix.
And Felix understood:
Ambrose expected him to go first.
The key inside him pulsed again.
Not painful.
Just insistent.
As if tugging him forward.
---
Nia stepped in front of him, eyes blazing.
"If Felix goes, I go."
Aya cracked her knuckles.
"And if Nia goes, I go."
Tomas sighed.
"Guess that means I'm going too."
Leo nodded.
"No one gets left behind. Not in this place."
Lina hugged her sketchbook.
"I'm scared… but I'll go."
Felix swallowed hard.
He didn't want anyone to risk themselves.
But he also knew he couldn't walk into the District alone.
He reached out and squeezed Nia's hand.
"Thank you," he whispered.
She squeezed back.
"Always."
---
Then Felix stepped toward the passage.
The moment his foot crossed the edge, the chocolate floor beneath him rippled like liquid, steadying under his weight as if recognizing him.
The air changed.
Cooler.
Denser.
Sweeter in a way that didn't comfort like a sugar burnt too long on a stove.
Behind him, the others followed one by one.
The walls glowed faintly, lighting their path downward.
Ambrose watched from the entrance, hands clasped behind his back, his face serene.
"Remember," he called after them,
"The District reveals truth through flavor."
Felix glanced back.
"What does that mean?"
Ambrose smiled gently.
"You will taste what others fear to see."
The passage darkened around them.
The last thing Felix saw before the tunnel swallowed them whole he were some gleaming eyes in the dark.....
Ambrose's eyes gleaming with a secret he was no longer hiding.