For several long seconds, Luca remained completely still.
The forest had returned to silence, yet the words he had seen remained burned into his mind with impossible clarity.
THE FIRST ENDING IS NOT THE LAST.
He could still see the enormous stone door in his memory, illuminated for that single fleeting instant by the golden light. He could still remember the ancient surface of the door, the strange symbols surrounding the inscription, and the sensation that had settled over him the moment he understood those words.
It was not fear.
At least, not entirely.
It was recognition.
Somewhere inside him, buried beneath memories from countless journeys and experiences that should never have belonged to a single lifetime, something had recognized that sentence.
And that was precisely what frightened him.
"Luca?"
Aurelia's voice pulled him back to reality.
He blinked and turned toward her.
