"No."
"They found us."
The words barely left Joshen's lips when—
People appeared.
Not slowly.
Not naturally.
They were just… there.
A group of figures stood between Joshen and the pyramids.
Men. Women. Different heights. Different builds. Their clothes fluttered violently in the rising wind. Their faces were unclear, distorted by heat waves and blowing sand, like the world itself refused to let Joshen focus on them properly.
For half a second, Joshen felt a strange sense of recognition.
Like he had seen them before.
Like he was supposed to know them.
Then—
They vanished.
Not faded.
Not walked away.
They were simply gone.
The space they had occupied was empty, as if reality had corrected a mistake.
Joshen sucked in a sharp breath.
"Did you see that?" he asked.
Jake didn't answer immediately.
That alone made Joshen's stomach tighten.
The air changed.
The pressure shifted.
The wind, which had already been strong, suddenly roared louder—violent, screaming across the sand like something alive. Grains of sand slammed into Joshen's clothes, stinging his skin.
The desert stopped feeling like a place.
It started feeling like a warning.
Joshen blinked.
Once.
Twice.
The world seemed to tilt.
Then—
The pyramids moved.
At first, Joshen thought his eyes were lying to him.
They didn't crumble.
They didn't crack.
They rose.
Thousands of tons of ancient stone lifted from the desert floor as if they weighed nothing. Massive shadows tore themselves free from the sand. Entire sections of the desert collapsed inward as the pyramids left behind deep, unnatural impressions in the earth.
Stone groaned.
The sound was deep.
Ancient.
Like the pyramids themselves were waking up.
They floated.
Not in formation.
Not in symmetry.
They drifted.
Rotated.
Shifted positions like pieces on a cosmic chessboard.
Some tilted sideways.
Others spun slowly.
A few rose higher into the sky, casting massive, moving shadows that swallowed the desert in waves of darkness and light.
Gravity felt optional.
Joshen's mouth went dry.
"hh…"
His chest rose and fell faster.
"I… I don't know what's happening."
His eyes darted everywhere, trying to make sense of something that refused to make sense.
"Hey, Jake…" he said slowly, almost hopefully. "The pyramids are usually floating like this, right? That's why they're famous?"
For a moment, Jake didn't respond.
Then—
Of course not, you idiot.
But Jake's voice wasn't mocking like usual.
It was tight.
Focused.
Uneasy.
"I'm confused too. This place is usually filled with hundreds of tourists. You can barely walk without bumping into someone. Cameras. Guides. Buses. Vendors. Noise everywhere."
Joshen swallowed.
"And now?"
"Now there's not a single person."
Joshen's eyes narrowed.
"But Jake… I swear I saw people. Just a moment ago. A group of them. They were right there."
He pointed at the empty desert.
"They just… disappeared."
The wind screamed louder, whipping his cloak violently. Sand lifted into the air in thick, swirling walls. The sky darkened slightly as dust clouds climbed higher and higher.
The floating pyramids groaned again.
"You've officially lost it," Jake muttered.
But Joshen could hear the lie in his voice.
They kept talking.
Arguing.
Half-joking.
Half-trying not to panic.
Because panic made things worse.
Until—
One pyramid separated itself from the others.
It moved.
Not randomly.
Not drifting.
It descended.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Directly toward them.
The ground shook.
A deep, rolling tremor traveled through the sand and into Joshen's bones. He staggered slightly, barely keeping his balance.
The massive structure lowered itself until it hovered just above the ground.
Then it touched down.
The impact sent a shockwave of sand exploding outward.
Joshen raised his arm to shield his face.
When the dust settled—
The pyramid stood before them.
Close.
Too close.
Then—
The stone surface shifted.
Lines appeared where no lines should exist.
The pyramid split open.
Not by breaking.
By opening.
Like massive stone doors separating along invisible seams.
A dark opening formed.
A passage.
A gate.
Joshen stared at it.
His heart hammered.
His instincts screamed.
Every survival sense in his body told him this was wrong.
And yet—
Something pulled him forward.
Not physically.
Internally.
Like a hook had been placed somewhere deep inside him.
He stepped closer.
"Joshen—" Jake said sharply. "I don't think we should go inside."
Joshen didn't respond.
He took another step.
Then another.
"If only I could control this body…" Jake muttered, frustration bleeding through his mental voice.
Joshen crossed the threshold.
The moment he did—
The air changed.
The heat dropped.
The wind vanished.
The noise of the desert died instantly, like a door had slammed shut behind reality itself.
Inside the pyramid, silence ruled.
The interior was chaos.
Not ancient, perfect halls like Joshen had imagined.
This place looked like time had crashed into itself.
Broken furniture lay scattered.
Wooden chairs overturned.
Tables half-buried in sand.
Paintings leaned crooked against stone walls, their frames cracked, their surfaces coated in thick layers of dust.
Some paintings looked old.
Others looked strangely modern.
Like they didn't belong here.
Sand covered everything.
It wasn't a tomb.
It was a place that had been lived in.
And abandoned.
Stairs led upward.
Joshen hesitated for only a second.
Then he climbed.
Each step echoed.
The sound felt too loud.
Like the pyramid was listening.
At the top—
A man stood waiting.
He didn't flinch.
Didn't look surprised.
Didn't move.
He stood calmly, hands at his sides, posture relaxed but alert. His eyes were sharp. Observing. Measuring.
Like he had been standing there for a long time.
Waiting.
Joshen stopped a few steps below him.
"What's your name?" Joshen asked.
The man studied him for a moment.
Then answered.
"Han Seok."
The name hit like a punch.
Joshen felt Jake freeze inside him.
Shock.
Recognition.
And something else.
Relief.
Han Seok's lips curved slightly.
"He told me you both would come here," Han Seok said calmly. "Joshen. And Jake."
Joshen's eyes widened.
"You can… see both of us?"
Han Seok tilted his head slightly.
"I can only see one person standing in front of me," he said. "But I was told there would be two."
Jake's voice snapped inside Joshen's head.
"How does he know my name?"
Han Seok turned his gaze slightly, not directly at Joshen's eyes—
But slightly to the side.
As if looking at something invisible.
"At least," Han Seok continued, "that is what he told me."
Joshen's pulse quickened.
"Who told you?"
Han Seok didn't answer that.
Instead, he gestured down a stone hallway.
"There is a room on the left. A bed. You can rest there for the night."
Jake immediately protested.
"But the day just began. How can it—"
"It is night," Han Seok said simply.
His tone allowed no argument.
Joshen frowned.
Something felt wrong.
Deeply wrong.
But his body felt heavy.
Tired.
Not physically.
Existentially.
Like reality itself had drained something out of him.
He nodded slowly.
He turned and walked toward the room.
The hallway felt longer than it should have been.
The light dimmed.
The air felt thick.
The room was simple.
Stone walls.
A single bed.
A small table.
A single lamp that gave off a soft, warm glow.
Joshen stepped inside.
The door closed quietly behind him.
He exhaled.
"Yo, Jake… it clearly is night."
He looked around, unease creeping into his chest.
"And more importantly…"
His voice dropped.
"How was he able to hear your voice?"
Jake didn't answer immediately.
For the first time in a long while—
Jake was truly silent.