They made it across the second causeway. Barely.
The entity pursued them to the edge of the stone basin, its shifting grit extending into long, skeletal tendrils that scraped against the crystalline bridge. Throughout the crossing, Marcus felt the cold draw on his sigil like a hollow ache.
But it wasn't just the sigil.
As the creature fed, something deeper was pulled at.
The smell of rain on city asphalt.
The hum of fluorescent newsroom lights.
Fragments of the final investigation that had cost him his life.
For several terrifying moments, it felt as though those memories were being unraveled and dragged from his mind thread by thread.
The sensation didn't stop until they were three-quarters of the way across. Then the tendrils, stretched beyond their limit over the void, snapped back toward the basin.
The outcrop beyond was little more than a shelf of stone jutting from the canyon wall.
Lysara reached it last.
The moment her boots touched solid ground, she dropped heavily to one knee.
"Lysara!"
Taryn was at her side immediately.
"I'm fine," Lysara said, though her hand trembled violently as she waved off the help.
The rune on her forearm had faded to a faint ember.
"You're not fine," Taryn replied. "Your sigil is barely visible."
"It drew more from me than either of you." Lysara managed a thin smile through shallow breaths. "Rift-energy and sigil-energy are close enough that I was the easiest target."
Marcus crouched beside her, studying the dimmed rune.
"How long until it recovers?"
Lysara flexed numb fingers.
"I don't know."
That answer worried him more than if she'd given a long explanation.
Without another word, Taryn reached for one of the smaller pouches at her belt. Unlike the others, it was carefully wrapped and sealed.
She unfolded a paper twist, revealing fine grey dust.
"Sol-clan compound," she said quietly.
Marcus recognized it immediately.
Rare.
Valuable.
Almost impossible to replace on the lower floors.
He watched as Taryn pressed the powder against the base of Lysara's rune. The dust caught the faint violet glow and melted into the skin.
For ten silent seconds, she held it there.
"It'll feel like pins and needles," Taryn said as she brushed away the excess. "That's normal."
Marcus watched the exchange.
Taryn still treated him with caution. She had every reason to.
Yet she had used one of her rarest resources without hesitation to help Lysara.
Interesting.
Noted.
Turning back toward the canyon, Marcus watched the distant shimmer pulsing across the dark stone.
"It targeted you."
Lysara followed his gaze.
"You mean after it couldn't reach you?"
Marcus nodded.
"At first, it focused on my sigil. When that failed, it spread the drain across all three of us. But it still hit the easiest target hardest."
"The Scout behaved similarly," Lysara said.
"Exactly."
The comparison lingered in the air.
"The Scout wanted your sigil specifically," Taryn said.
Marcus folded his arms.
"And this thing wanted sigil energy."
"You think they're connected?"
"I think they share an interest."
The distinction mattered.
"Not enough evidence," Marcus continued. "Just two anomalies that shouldn't exist."
Lysara leaned against her staff.
"The Scout came through a forced breach. These creatures are part of old Floor Two legends."
"Meaning either they've always been here," Marcus said, "or something changed recently."
No one had an answer.
Across the canyon, the distant shimmer pulsed once before going still.
"We're not solving this standing here."
Marcus rose and looked down the path ahead.
"Lysara. Can you walk?"
"I can walk." She pushed herself upright. "Reading rifts will be harder for a while."
"Then we move carefully."
Taryn glanced around their cramped perch.
Two causeways branched away from the shelf, vanishing into the impossible geometry of Floor Two.
Neither looked inviting.
"Which way?"
Marcus studied both paths.
One led toward the direction the first watcher had drifted.
The other disappeared into darkness.
"That one."
He pointed toward the unlit causeway.
"Away from anything that's already noticed us."
Nobody argued.
Leaning into the skewed gravity of Floor Two, the three of them stepped off the outcrop and disappeared deeper into the shifting labyrinth.