5:19 p.m. — Five Doors, Four Shadows
No one spoke.
The metal beneath their feet creaked again, as if mourning what it had just consumed.
Ash was gone.
A single moment. A single step. And just like that, the team was down to four.
The red strobes overhead pulsed in silence — a heartbeat counting down.
Amara knelt near the edge where Ash had fallen. Her hand hovered over the open space, trembling.
“There’s no bottom,” she whispered. “No echo. No trace.”
Kael scanned the chamber, jaw clenched. “It was a trap. Meant to remove the first who acted.”
“A test,” Veris muttered. “One of five. Now there are four.”
Damon’s gaze didn’t leave Amara. “Then we choose carefully from here on out.”
He reached down, fingers brushing hers, grounding her.
The numbers on the doors — 01, 02, 03, 04, 0
