Lost Between Worlds
Isabela stood just beyond the path of light, bathed in moon-shadow. Her eyes locked onto Cuco's, wide and unblinking.
"You came," she whispered.
Cuco took a step 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 reached for Cuco's arm, tense. "Don't trust her."
Isabela smiled—soft at first, then sharp.
"I don't want to be trusted," she said. "I want to warn you."
She raised her hand.
Her mark—twisted and cracked—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 it."
Cuco's mouth went dry. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," she whispered, "the gate isn't just a place. It's a person. A living conduit. The last Key didn't open the seal…"
She pointed directly at Cuco.
"He became it. Just like you will."
Suddenly, the trees around them groaned, and the air split with a sound like tearing fabric.
Behind Isabela, the forest shimmered—and something stepped through.
Not a Hollow One.
Not fully.
It had no face—but wore a cloak of light stitched from memory. It moved like mist but cast shadows. Its presence pulled at Cuco's soul.
"What is that?" Nox whispered.
Isabela's face darkened.
"That," she said, "is what waits after the gate opens. The First Dreamer."
The creature raised its hand—and Cuco's mark responded, burning gold.
Pain shot through him.
Visions flashed behind his eyes—Isabela screaming, the seal breaking, towns swallowed by silence.
And then… the truth:
> The Circle didn't form to protect the world from the Hollow Ones.
It formed to control the Keys.
Because one of them… will become the gate. And once it's open, something far older than dreams will walk through.
Cuco collapsed to his knees, gasping.
The mark on his hand was no longer just glowing—it was cracking.
And something was trying to get out.