The moment I returned to the battlefield, the pressure crashing down from the sky nearly forced me back to my knees.
The Door had opened farther.
Not much.
But enough for the world itself to begin dying around it.
The fractured heavens no longer resembled a sky. Darkness spread endlessly beyond the widening cracks, swallowing clouds, light, even distance itself. Entire sections of the horizon distorted unnaturally as though reality could no longer maintain its own shape beneath the presence pressing against it.
And behind the Door…
Something massive moved again.
Closer this time.
The synchronization inside me reacted instantly.
The black fractures covering my body pulsed with violent intensity, and for a brief moment I felt the Door recognize me completely.
Not as an outsider.
As its next keeper.
My breathing became uneven.
Faye immediately noticed.
"What happened?"
I looked at her slowly.
The warmth of her hand still grounded me enough to think clearly, but the memories from the endless darkness remained painfully vivid in my mind.
The First One.
His loneliness.
The truth behind the prison.
And the impossible choice now waiting for me.
I exhaled quietly.
"He showed me everything."
Rin forced himself upright nearby despite his injuries.
"Everything WHAT?!"
The battlefield shook violently before I could answer.
A deafening impact exploded from beyond the Door.
The sky cracked downward.
Massive fractures spread across the heavens while darkness spilled through them like oceans flooding into reality. The silhouettes trapped behind the Door moved wildly now, no longer patient.
They knew the seal was weakening.
The entity beside us looked upward sharply.
"It's accelerating."
Its voice carried genuine alarm now.
Faye turned toward it immediately.
"Can the Door still be closed?"
The entity remained silent for a second too long.
Then finally—
"Yes."
Hope flickered briefly inside my chest.
Until it continued.
"But someone must replace the First One."
Silence crushed the battlefield.
Even Rin stopped talking.
Because all of us already knew what that meant.
The synchronization inside me deepened painfully.
The Door pulsed.
And somewhere beyond reality itself…
The First One waited.
Not forcing me.
Not manipulating me.
Just waiting.
That somehow made this harder.
The entity's eyes locked onto mine.
"If the prison loses its keeper completely, the ancient prisoners will enter this world."
As if responding to those words—
A gigantic hand slammed against the inner side of the Door.
The impact shattered mountains in the distance instantly.
Lira screamed.
Rin nearly collapsed again.
Even the entity stepped backward.
The sheer force behind that strike felt inhuman beyond comprehension.
The synchronization inside me reacted with instinctive understanding.
There were things beyond the Door far worse than the First One.
Much worse.
Faye looked at me carefully now.
"You're thinking about accepting it."
Not accusation.
Fear.
I closed my eyes briefly.
"I don't know."
That was the truth.
Part of me wanted to reject everything.
Run.
Remain human.
Stay here with the people beside me.
But another part of me now understood the burden waiting beyond the Door.
The First One had endured it alone for centuries.
Maybe longer.
And eventually…
It destroyed him.
The inherited memories still echoed painfully inside me.
The isolation.
The endless screaming beyond the gates.
The slow erosion of identity.
No human was meant to survive eternity alone.
The entity suddenly spoke again.
"The synchronization changed because of your attachments."
I looked toward it.
"What does that mean?"
Its expression sharpened slightly.
"It means the process is evolving."
Cold spread through my chest.
"…Evolving how?"
For the first time—
The entity hesitated.
Then quietly:
"The Door was never meant to have more than one keeper."
The realization hit instantly.
Faye's eyes widened slightly too.
"You mean…"
The entity nodded slowly.
"If connections stabilize synchronization…"
Its gaze moved between us.
"Then theoretically, the burden could be shared."
Silence exploded across the battlefield.
Even the Door itself seemed to pause for a moment.
The synchronization inside me pulsed violently.
Because deep down…
I understood what that meant immediately.
The previous chosen ones all failed because they crossed alone.
But if someone remained emotionally connected strongly enough—
The isolation phase could be resisted.
The First One's greatest weakness…
Could become my greatest advantage.
Rin stared at us like we'd both gone insane.
"Hold on. Are we talking about FOLLOWING him beyond that thing?!"
Another impact shook the Door violently.
This time cracks spread across the ancient gates themselves.
The entity's expression darkened immediately.
"There is no time."
The silhouettes behind the Door were moving faster now.
Hungry.
Restless.
Waiting for even the smallest opening.
And then—
The First One's voice echoed softly through reality.
"They are waking completely."
The synchronization surged again.
I looked upward instinctively.
The ancient eye beyond the Door remained fixed on me.
But something had changed.
It no longer looked certain.
It looked desperate.
The realization chilled me deeply.
The First One was running out of strength.
If he collapsed before a replacement existed—
The prison would fail entirely.
Faye stepped closer.
"If you go…"
Her voice trembled slightly for the first time.
"…can you come back?"
The question hurt more than everything else combined.
Because I finally understood the real horror behind becoming the keeper.
Not death.
Distance.
The First One never truly returned because the burden slowly separated him from humanity itself.
Would the same thing happen to me?
The synchronization inside me pulsed softly again.
And then—
Something impossible happened.
Faye's hand tightened around mine…
And the black fractures across my skin began fading slightly.
The entity stared openly in shock.
"…It's stabilizing again."
The Door trembled violently.
The ancient eye widened.
For the first time since awakening…
The First One sounded genuinely stunned.
"…You can pull him back."
Silence crashed across reality.
Because suddenly…
The impossible no longer seemed impossible.
Maybe the keeper did not have to remain alone.
Maybe that was the mistake from the very beginning.
The Door shook violently again.
A roar exploded from beyond it so powerful the world itself cracked around us.
The entity looked upward sharply.
"There's no more time."
The ancient gates split open another inch.
And from the darkness beyond them…
Something started crawling through.