The Shadow Corridor grew deeper.
The light from Lyra's artifact became the only line separating the safe path from formless darkness.
Their steps were slow, almost soundless.
But in this place, sound did not matter much.
What mattered was presence.
And Kael's presence now felt like a torch in the middle of a dark forest.
The shadows along the corridor began moving more actively.
Some slid along the walls like living ink stains.
Some merely stood still... but their eyes remained open.
Watching.
Judging.
Kael felt a strange pressure in his head.
Not pain.
More like someone opening the door to his mind little by little.
Lyra immediately noticed.
"Don't think of something too strongly."
Kael turned slightly.
"What do you mean?"
Lyra answered without looking at him.
"Fear. Regret. Great desire."
She pointed at the shadows around them.
"They feed on things like that."
Kael did not answer.
But one shadow on the left suddenly moved faster than the others.
It did not attack.
It merely... approached.
Its black mist stretched like thin fingers.
Lyra immediately stopped walking.
"Damn."
Kael followed her gaze.
That shadow was now only several paces from them.
It had no face.
But the empty space where a face should be... slowly formed something.
A symbol.
A symbol similar to the mark on Kael's wrist.
Lyra whispered.
"The Tester."
Kael asked softly.
"Is that bad?"
Lyra answered honestly.
"It depends."
The shadow stopped right before Kael.
Not attacking.
Not touching.
It merely stood there.
Then something happened.
The mist in the creature's body began forming a vague image.
A scene.
Kael saw it clearly.
A burning city.
Collapsing buildings.
The sky cracked like glass.
And someone stood in the middle of that destruction.
Someone with the Veil symbol on their hand.
Lyra immediately realized what was happening.
"Don't look too long."
But Kael kept watching.
The scene changed.
Now he saw something else.
A dark room.
A round table.
Empty chairs.
And one chair... occupied by someone.
Their shadow was blurred.
But the Veil symbol glowed bright on their hand.
Kael felt something tremble in his chest.
As if a future that had not yet happened... was being shown to him.
Lyra reached for Kael's arm.
"Enough."
But before she pulled him—
the shadow moved.
Its mist stretched.
And for the first time...
it touched Kael.
That touch did not feel like a hand.
More like cold entering his blood.
The symbol on Kael's wrist immediately blazed bright.
Thin light seeped out from the cracks of that mark.
The Shadow Corridor suddenly fell silent.
All shadows stopped moving.
As if something far greater... had just opened its eyes.
Lyra stared at Kael's hand with a pale face.
"No..."
Kael looked at her.
"What?"
Lyra swallowed.
"The Tester... didn't attack you."
She pointed at the symbol that now glowed brighter.
"It gave you something."
Kael looked at the mark on his wrist.
The cracked symbol now had one additional small line.
Lyra spoke softly.
"That is the First Price."
Kael asked.
"The price for what?"
Lyra answered in a low voice.
"To become someone who can truly be seen by the Veil."
Several seconds passed.
Then the book in Lyra's hand suddenly trembled.
The page opened by itself.
Black ink appeared again.
The sentence was short.
But it made Lyra immediately fall silent.
Kael read that writing.
"The second observer has found you."
And deep within the Shadow Corridor...
something far larger than the small shadows from before...
slowly began to move.