The whispers filled Liang Wenyan's mind like an overwhelming tide, ebbing and flowing in incomprehensible patterns. He tried to focus, to make sense of the voices that seemed to echo from somewhere far beyond the boundaries of reality.
At first, there was only chaos—disjointed words in a language he couldn't understand, accompanied by flashes of impossible images: endless black skies, twisting shapes, and an ever-present crimson glow. But the more he concentrated, the more a rhythm began to emerge, like tuning a radio to a clearer frequency.
The markings on his hand flared brighter, the glow seeping through the glove. He gritted his teeth, sweat dripping down his temple, and pushed himself further.
And then, as if a door had opened, the voices coalesced into something he could finally understand.
"You seek the source."
Wenyan jolted upright, his eyes snapping open. The room was unchanged, yet it felt different—denser, the shadows deeper, the air heavier.
"What are you?" he whispered.
The voice came again, though this time it felt like it was inside him rather than external. "We are the ones who watch. The ones who hunger."
"The nexus," he said, his voice shaking. "Where is it? How do I stop this?"
The markings on his hand pulsed in response. He felt a pull—not physical, but a tug deep within his mind, urging him to follow. His surroundings dimmed, and for a moment, he thought he saw a faint outline of something beyond the room: a vast, shifting expanse of black tendrils and glowing red shapes.
"Wenyan!"
The shout snapped him out of the trance. Mei stood in the doorway, her expression a mix of concern and fear.
"What were you doing?" she demanded, rushing to his side.
He flexed his hand, the markings returning to their dim glow. "I… I think I made contact with it. The markings showed me something. I saw… a path."
Mei's eyes narrowed. "A path to what?"
"To the nexus." Wenyan's voice was resolute, though the fear in his chest hadn't subsided. "If we follow it, we might be able to stop this."
"Or it's leading you straight into a trap," Mei said, crossing her arms. "You can't trust whatever's behind those markings. It's been manipulating people since the beginning."
"I know," he said, meeting her gaze. "But what other choice do we have? We need answers, and this might be our only shot at finding them."
Mei hesitated, then sighed. "Fine. But if we're doing this, we're doing it together. No more reckless dives into the unknown."
---
The path led them out of the city, through a stretch of forest that had long since been abandoned. The deeper they went, the more the environment seemed to change. The trees grew twisted, their branches clawing at the sky like skeletal hands. The air was thick and oppressive, carrying an unnatural silence that pressed against their ears.
"This place…" Mei whispered, her eyes scanning the shadows. "It feels wrong."
Wenyan didn't respond. He was focused on the pull, the faint sense of direction the markings provided. It was like an invisible thread, guiding him forward through the dark.
Eventually, they came to a clearing. In the center stood a massive stone monolith, covered in the same glowing symbols that adorned Wenyan's hand. The ground around it was scorched and cracked, as though the earth itself had rejected the structure.
"This has to be it," Wenyan said, stepping closer.
Mei grabbed his arm. "Wait. We don't know what it'll do if you touch it."
"I don't think I have a choice," he said quietly. "If this is part of the nexus, it might have the answers we need."
Before Mei could protest further, Wenyan placed his marked hand against the stone.
The reaction was immediate.
The markings flared with blinding light, and the world around him seemed to dissolve. He felt himself falling, not through space, but through layers of reality, each one darker and more distorted than the last.
When he finally landed, he was no longer in the forest.
---
The landscape was a nightmare made real. The ground was an undulating mass of black tendrils, and the sky was a swirling vortex of crimson and ash. Towering figures loomed in the distance, their forms too vast and alien to fully comprehend.
Wenyan's breathing quickened. He tried to focus, to ground himself, but the very air seemed to pulse with a malevolent energy that gnawed at his sanity.
"You have come."
The voice was everywhere and nowhere, surrounding him completely. He turned, and before him appeared a figure that seemed to shift between forms—a humanoid silhouette one moment, a swirling mass of light and shadow the next.
"Are you the nexus?" Wenyan asked, his voice trembling.
"I am the guardian. The gatekeeper. The markings are my design."
"Then you can stop this!" he said, stepping forward. "Close the bridge. End it before it destroys everything."
The figure tilted its head, its form shimmering. "You misunderstand. The bridge cannot be closed. It is a part of existence itself. The markings do not destroy—they transform."
"Transform into what?" Wenyan demanded.
"A higher state. Beyond comprehension. But only those who embrace the markings will ascend. The rest will fall."
Wenyan's heart pounded. He thought of Heng, Mei's brother, and the woman in the warehouse. "You mean… they weren't destroyed. They were… changed?"
The figure's silence was answer enough.
Wenyan clenched his fists. "I don't want to ascend. I don't want any of this. I just want it to stop."
The figure loomed closer, its form towering over him. "Then you will resist. And resistance comes at a price."
The ground beneath Wenyan began to crack, the tendrils writhing violently. The markings on his hand flared brighter than ever, and the whispers returned, louder and more chaotic.
He screamed as the light consumed him.
---
When he opened his eyes, he was back in the forest. Mei was shaking him, her face pale.
"Wenyan! What happened? Are you okay?"
He sat up slowly, his body trembling. The markings on his hand had spread, now crawling up his arm like black veins. But more than that, something inside him had shifted.
"I saw it," he said, his voice hoarse. "The guardian. The nexus. It's… it's bigger than anything we imagined."
Mei's expression darkened. "Did you find a way to stop it?"
Wenyan shook his head. "Not yet. But I think I know where to look next."
The markings pulsed faintly, as though in agreement.