Three weeks. That's how long it took for Kai to stop waking up every morning thinking he was back in his own world.
Three weeks of training. Three weeks of bread that tasted like metal. Three weeks of watching the cracks in the sky and wondering if they'd ever close. Three weeks of Orin hitting him, throwing him, making him get back up.
His body was changing.
The bruises faded faster than they should. The cuts closed in hours instead of days. He was stronger than he'd been three weeks ago. Faster. More aware.
Orin noticed. She always noticed.
"You're healing," she said, after their morning session. They were sitting on the edge of the training ground, watching the sun bleed through the cracks. "Faster than any new Weaver I've seen."
"Maybe you're not hitting hard enough."
She punched his arm. Hard. He winced.
"Still healing fast," she said. "That's not normal."
"Host's physiology is adapting to the Fracture's environment," Echo reported. "Cellular regeneration increased by forty-three percent. Neural processing accelerated by twenty-eight percent."
Kai rubbed his arm. "Echo says I'm adapting."
"Echo says a lot of things." Orin studied him. "That voice in your head. It's getting clearer."
"This unit's recovery is ongoing. Current functionality: sixty-three percent."
"See?" Kai said. "Sixty-three percent. Last week it was fifty."
Orin's expression didn't change, but something in her eyes shifted. "Three weeks ago, you couldn't stand. Now you can take three hits before falling. That's progress."
"That's survival."
"That's the same thing in the Fracture."
Kael was waiting for him after training. He leaned against the wall of the corridor, arms crossed, expression carved from stone.
"You're getting stronger."
"Orin says I can take three hits now."
"That's three more than last week."
Kai stopped. Looked at him. "Was that a joke?"
Kael's face didn't move. "I don't joke."
"You just made a joke."
"I stated a fact."
Kai waited. Kael waited. The silence stretched.
"Your face is doing something," Kai said.
"What?"
"It's twitching."
Kael's hand went to his blade. "My face doesn't twitch."
"It's twitching right now."
"I will end you."
"You won't."
Kael's eye twitched again. He turned and walked away.
"Host has successfully irritated Kael. Score: Kai: four. Kael: zero."
"I'm not keeping score."
"This unit is keeping score."
"Stop keeping score."
"Acknowledged. Score remains: Kai: four. Kael: zero."
Kai shook his head. "You're impossible."
"This unit is adapting."
Sera found him in his room that evening. She carried a bundle of cloth and a book.
"How do you feel?" she asked.
"Like I got hit by a building."
"Orin hits like a building. You should see what she does to people she doesn't like." She set the bundle on his bed. "Clothes. You'll need them for training." She held out the book. "A history of the Fracture. You should know where you are."
Kai took the book. It was heavy, bound in leather that had been worn soft by time. "Why are you helping me?"
"I told you. I want to know what's beyond the cracks."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one you're going to get." She moved to the door. "Rest. Training starts again tomorrow. Today was easy."
"Easy?"
"Orin only broke one of your ribs. Last week she broke three. That's progress."
The door closed.
Kai opened the book. The first page was a map. Sanctuary Primus. The Bloom. Mountains. Beyond them, nothing. Just blank space.
"Interesting," Echo said.
"What?"
"The map. No indication of what lies beyond the cracks. No exploration. No data. Host's arrival is the first recorded contact with an outside dimension in this world's history."
"So I'm not just lost. I'm unprecedented."
"Correct. Host is a variable no one anticipated. Including this unit."
Kai closed the book. "Is that good or bad?"
"Unknown. But it makes host valuable. Valuable things are protected."
"Or exploited."
"That too."
He lay back on the bed. The ceiling was stone. The cracks in the sky were still there.
"Echo."
"Yes."
"What's beyond the cracks? Really beyond them?"
"Unknown. Data insufficient. Hypothesis: another dimension. Perhaps host's home dimension. Perhaps something else."
"Can we get back?"
"Unknown. Host's arrival was uncontrolled. Return may require similar breach. Without data, return probability is..."
"Don't say it."
"Very low."
Kai closed his eyes. "Then we make it higher."
"Agreed."
That night, Kai dreamed.
He was back in the lab. The machine was humming—that same low vibration that had filled his bones before everything went wrong. Scientists in white coats moved around him, their faces blurred, their voices indistinct.
"Kai. Can you hear me?"
A voice. Not Echo. Someone else.
"Kai, if you can hear me, you need to run."
He tried to move. His legs wouldn't respond.
"The jump is unstable. The dimensional barrier—"
The machine screamed. Light exploded. Reality cracked.
"KAI!"
He woke gasping.
His room was dark. The cracks in the sky bled faint light through his window. His heart was pounding. His hands were shaking.
"Host is experiencing residual memory contamination. Dream state accessed data fragments from the experiment."
"Who was that?" Kai's voice was rough. "Who was talking to me?"
"Unknown. Voice signature does not match any personnel in host's memory files. Hypothesis: another survivor. Someone else caught in the dimensional breach."
"Someone else came through."
"Possible. Data insufficient to confirm."
Kai sat up. His sheets were soaked with sweat. "Echo. Search. Look for any data on other signatures. Other jumps. Anything."
"Searching. Accessing fragmented logs."
The silence stretched.
"Partial match found. Dimensional breach detected before host's arrival. Signature pattern: human. Status: unknown."
"Someone was here before me."
"Appears so. Timeline unclear. Location unclear. But someone else crossed from host's dimension into the Fracture."
Kai looked at his window. At the cracks in the sky. At the bleeding colors that had no names.
"Someone else is here."
"Possibly. If they survived."
"Find them."
"Acknowledged. Search initiated. Probability of success: unknown."
The next morning, Kai found Sera in the library.
She was sitting at a long wooden table, surrounded by books. Her hair was loose, falling over her shoulders. She looked up when he entered.
"You're up early."
"I couldn't sleep."
She gestured to the chair across from her. "Sit. Tell me."
Kai sat. "Echo found something. In the experiment data. Someone else came through. Before me."
Sera's hands stilled on the book. "Another outsider?"
"Another survivor. From my world. Echo says they've been here longer. Maybe years."
"That's..." She stopped. "That's not possible. We would have known. Someone would have found them."
"Unless they didn't want to be found."
Sera's eyes met his. "You want to go looking for them."
"I need to. They might have answers. About the experiment. About the Fracture. About how to get back."
"Get back," Sera repeated. "You want to leave."
"I want to know I can."
She was quiet for a moment. Then she nodded. "Then we find them."
"We?"
"You think I'm letting you go into the Bloom alone?" She smiled. "Someone has to keep you alive."
Kael was less enthusiastic.
"You want to go back into the Bloom." His voice was flat. "To look for someone who might not exist."
"Echo says they exist."
"Echo is a voice in your head."
"This unit takes offense to that characterization."
Kael's eye twitched. "It has opinions now."
"This unit has always had opinions. Host simply did not ask for them previously."
Kai put his hand over his face. "Echo. Please."
"Acknowledged. This unit will refrain from commentary."
Kael stared at the space where Echo's voice had come from. "That thing is getting more annoying."
"This unit strives for improvement."
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." Kael turned back to Kai. "If you want to go back into the Bloom, fine. But you're not going alone. Orin will go. Sera will go. I'll go."
"You want to come?"
"I want to make sure you don't die. If you die, I'll never hear the end of it from Orin." He paused. "Also, you're the most interesting thing that's happened to this Sanctuary in years. I want to see what happens next."
Kai looked at him. "That's almost nice."
"Don't tell anyone."
"Your secret's safe."
Kael's eye twitched again. "I'm going to regret this."
"Probability: high."
"Echo."
"This unit is being supportive."
"You're being annoying."
"This unit strives for excellence in all areas."
Kael turned and walked away. But Kai saw it—the corner of his mouth, twitching. Almost a smile.
Almost.
End of Chapter 4