Lost Between Worlds
Isabela stood just beyond the path of light, bathed in moon-shadow. Her eyes locked onto Cuco's—wide, unblinking.
"You came," she whispered.
Cuco stepped forward, stunned. "You're real… You've been here all this time?"
"I've been everywhere," she said, her voice like wind through glass. "Every dream. Every nightmare. I was the Key once. But I chose wrong."
Tariq grabbed Cuco's arm, tense. "Don't trust her."
Isabela smiled—soft at first, then sharp.
"I don't need to be trusted," she said. "I came to warn you."
She raised her hand.
The mark on her palm—twisted and fractured—burned black.
Nox inhaled sharply. "She's corrupted."
"No," Isabela said, stepping closer. "I'm awake. The Key doesn't open the gate… it becomes the gate."
Cuco's mouth went dry. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," she whispered, "the gate isn't just a place. It's a person. The last Key didn't open the seal…"
She pointed directly at Cuco.
"…He became it. Just like you will."
Suddenly, the trees groaned around them, and the air split with a sound like tearing fabric.
Behind Isabela, the forest shimmered—and something stepped through.
Not a Hollow One.
Not entirely.
It had no face, but it wore a cloak of light stitched from memory. It moved like mist, yet cast shadows. Its presence tugged at Cuco's soul, ancient and intimate.
"What is that?" Nox breathed.
Isabela's face darkened.
"That," she said, "is what waits once the gate opens. The First Dreamer."
The creature raised its hand—Cuco's mark responded, flaring gold.
Agony shot through him.
Visions seared behind his eyes—Isabela screaming, the seal shattering, towns devoured by silence.
And then… the truth:
> The Circle wasn't formed to protect the world from the Hollow Ones.
It was formed to contain the Keys.
Because one of them will become the gate.
And once it opens, something older than dreams will walk through.
Cuco dropped to his knees, gasping.
The mark on his hand wasn't just glowing now.
It was cracking.
And something inside him…
was trying to get out.