The thing stepped back.
Not far.
Just enough.
As if—
It wasn't supposed to hesitate.
Adam felt it immediately.
That shift again.
Small.
But real.
"I told you," Laila whispered. "You can resist it."
Adam didn't respond.
His eyes were still locked on it.
On himself.
Because now—
He could feel the difference.
Before, there had been a pull.
A force dragging him forward.
Now—
It was weaker.
Unstable.
Like something had broken in the connection.
The thing tilted its head again.
Studying him.
Re-evaluating.
Then—
It smiled.
Not the same way as before.
This time—
There was something else in it.
Recognition.
"...it knows," Hicham said quietly.
Adam's chest tightened.
"Knows what?"
Hicham didn't answer immediately.
His gaze shifted slightly—
Not to the thing.
But to the ground.
Beneath them.
"…this place," he said slowly. "We shouldn't have come here."
Laila stiffened.
"You think this is why it appeared?"
"No," Hicham replied. "I think this is why it found him faster."
Adam frowned.
"What are you talking about?"
No one answered.
Instead—
The ground trembled.
Not violently.
Just enough to be felt.
Like something deep beneath the city had—
Moved.
Youssef stepped back.
"Okay, that's new," he muttered.
"It's not," Hicham said.
Youssef looked at him sharply.
"…don't tell me you knew about this."
Hicham didn't deny it.
Adam's patience snapped.
"Enough with the half-answers!" he shouted. "What is going on?!"
Silence.
Then—
Laila exhaled slowly.
"If we don't tell him now," she said, "he won't survive the next time."
Youssef scoffed.
"He barely survives this time."
"That's exactly my point."
Another tremor.
Stronger.
This time, Adam felt it in his chest.
Like a second heartbeat—
Not his own.
"What… is that?" he whispered.
Hicham finally looked at him.
Really looked.
"The seal," he said.
Adam blinked.
"The what?"
Hicham gestured downward.
"Under this city… there are things that were never meant to resurface."
A chill ran through Adam.
"That doesn't answer anything."
"It's not supposed to," Youssef muttered.
Laila shot him a look.
"Let him speak."
Hicham nodded slightly.
Then—
"For centuries," he said, "people believed certain places in this city were… protected."
Adam frowned.
"Protected from what?"
A pause.
Then—
"From things that don't belong to one life."
The words settled heavily.
Adam glanced at the thing again.
Still there.
Still watching.
"You mean… like that?" he asked.
Hicham didn't look at it.
"Yes."
Another tremor.
This time—
A crack appeared.
Right beneath Adam's feet.
He stumbled back instinctively.
"What the hell—?!"
The crack spread slowly across the stone.
Dark.
Deep.
Wrong.
And from within—
A faint glow.
Not light.
Not exactly.
Something older.
Something that didn't feel like it belonged to the present.
Youssef cursed under his breath.
"Tell me this isn't what I think it is."
Hicham didn't answer.
Which was answer enough.
Laila stepped back, pulling Adam with her.
"We need to move."
"No," Adam said suddenly.
She stopped.
"What?"
Adam's eyes were fixed on the crack.
On the glow beneath it.
Because—
He felt it.
Stronger than the thing.
Stronger than the pull.
Something calling him.
Not forward.
Down.
"…I know this," he said quietly.
Laila's grip tightened.
"That's not possible."
"It is," Hicham said.
Both of them looked at him.
Hicham's expression was darker now.
"He's been here before."
Adam's breath caught.
"What?"
"Not like this," Hicham continued. "But enough."
The crack widened.
The glow intensified.
And then—
Symbols.
Faint.
Etched into the stone beneath the surface.
Old.
Ancient.
Adam dropped to one knee without realizing it.
His hand hovering over the crack.
"…I've seen this," he whispered.
Not a guess.
Not confusion.
Certainty.
Laila shook her head.
"No… no, that's not supposed to happen yet."
Youssef looked between them.
"What are we missing?"
Hicham didn't answer.
Because Adam moved.
He touched the stone.
The moment his fingers made contact—
Everything broke.
Not the ground.
Not the world.
Something else.
A flood of memory—
Not one.
Not ten.
Hundreds.
Flashing through him all at once.
The same place.
Different times.
Different outcomes.
Him—standing here.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Sometimes alone.
Sometimes not.
Sometimes—
Covered in blood.
Adam gasped, his body shaking violently.
"Get him away from it!" Youssef shouted.
Too late.
The symbols lit up.
Fully.
Bright.
Burning.
And for the first time—
The thing reacted.
It stepped back sharply.
Almost—
Afraid.
Laila's eyes widened.
"…it's reacting to the seal."
Hicham nodded slowly.
"Yes."
Adam lifted his head.
His eyes weren't the same.
Not fully.
Something had changed.
Deep inside.
"I remember…" he whispered.
The words sent a chill through all of them.
Youssef grabbed his arm.
"No—no, that's bad, that's really bad—"
"It's not complete," Hicham said quickly. "Not yet."
Adam looked at the thing.
At himself.
And for the first time—
He didn't feel fear.
He felt—
Understanding.
"You're stuck," Adam said quietly.
The thing froze.
"You can't go back," Adam continued. "You never could."
Silence.
The thing didn't move.
Didn't react.
But something about it—
Shifted.
Laila stepped closer.
"Adam… what did you see?"
He didn't answer immediately.
Because he wasn't sure how to.
"…this place," he said finally. "It's not just part of the city."
Another tremor.
Stronger.
The crack expanded.
The glow intensified.
"It's holding something," Adam said.
Hicham's gaze sharpened.
"What?"
Adam looked down.
At the symbols.
At the light.
At the thing beneath it.
And then—
He said the words without fully understanding why:
"It's holding us."
Silence fell.
Heavy.
Unnatural.
Even the thing—
Stopped moving.
As if—
That answer mattered.
More than anything else.