Morning never came.
Light did—but it had no warmth, no direction. The sky above the island stayed a dull gray, like a lid refusing to open.
They sat in a tighter circle now.
Fear had rearranged them.
Jonah noticed it immediately—the way eyes avoided each other, the way breaths were measured, guarded.
That was when Eli spoke.
"We shouldn't panic," he said. "We're still all here. Two gone, yes—but we're learning the rules."
Jonah looked at him.
Too calm.
Too steady.
"What did the island show you?" Jonah asked.
Eli didn't hesitate. "Nothing."
The word landed wrong.
The air changed.
Not violently.
Precisely.
The forest went quiet.
No wind.
No movement.
Rule one echoed like a hammer strike.
Do not lie here. Not to others. Not to yourself.
Jonah felt it before he saw it.
Eli's shadow shifted.
It didn't match his movements anymore.
"Say that again," Jonah said softly.
Eli swallowed. "I said—it showed me nothing."
The ground beneath Eli's feet cracked.
Not open.
Just… fractured.
Thin black lines spread outward like broken glass beneath skin.
"I didn't do anything wrong," Eli said, panic creeping into his voice. "I didn't run. I didn't follow—"
His shadow peeled away from him.
Stood up.
The men screamed.
The thing that rose looked like Eli—but hollow. Its face lagged half a second behind its movements, like it hadn't learned how to wear him properly.
"You lied," it said in a voice that wasn't his.
Eli dropped to his knees. "I was ashamed!"
The shadow tilted its head.
This place hates dishonesty.
The ground split wider.
Not enough to swallow him.
Enough to trap him.
The shadow stepped back into Eli—through him.
Eli convulsed once.
Then went still.
When Jonah reached him, Eli was alive.
Breathing.
But his eyes…
Empty.
Whatever the island had shown him—whatever truth he had denied—had been taken instead.
The forest relaxed.
The cracks sealed.
The island had corrected the imbalance.
Jonah stood slowly.
"Listen to me," he said, voice shaking but loud. "This place doesn't want courage. It doesn't want strength."
They looked at him.
"It wants honesty," Jonah continued. "Even when it hurts."
From deep inside the trees, something massive shifted again.
Satisfied.
Learning.