Ray's eyes fluttered open to the dim glow of the cavern. His body ached as if he had been trampled by a herd of beasts, but at least he was still breathing. Across from him, Alkan sat with his back against the jagged wall, his face pale, his breaths slow and controlled.

  "You passed out," Alkan said simply.

  Ray exhaled, trying to sit up. His muscles screamed in protest, but he pushed through the pain. "For how long?"

  "A few hours. Long enough that I had to drag you in here."

  Ray frowned, glancing toward the entrance. It was nothing more than a gap in the broken wall, barely enough to keep them hidden. They couldn't stay here for long.

  Alkan shifted slightly, his hand pressing against his chest. "Ray... I had another vision."

  Ray’s eyes snapped to him, suddenly more alert.

  "I saw a path," Alkan continued. "A direct one. No shifting walls, no sudden changes. Just one straight corridor leading to the gate. But… it’s behind a wall. A solid one. We’ll have to break through."

  Ray ran a hand through his hair. "That’s good news, right? If the path doesn’t shift, we won’t have to keep guessing where to go."

  Alkan hesitated before speaking. "Yes… but we’ll be exposed. There’s nothing between us and the fallen outers. The moment we step onto that path, they’ll know exactly where we are."

  A heavy silence fell between them. Ray clenched his fists. "Then we don’t stop moving. We keep going until we reach the gate."

  Alkan gave a weak chuckle. "I was hoping you’d say that."

  Ray stood, rolling his shoulders. "Then let’s move before they find us."

  The labyrinth stretched endlessly before them, its walls pulsing faintly as if the place itself was alive. Ray could feel the weight of exhaustion pressing down on him, but he forced himself forward.

  Reaching the sealed wall hadn’t been difficult. Breaking through it had been. It took them nearly an hour, their every movement echoing in the silence, a beacon to whatever lurked nearby. By the time they had created an opening large enough to pass through, Ray’s arms felt like lead.

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  And now, they were running.

  Alkan’s condition had worsened. He stumbled more often, his breath coming in sharp, ragged gasps. His power, the ability to see seconds into the future, was failing him completely. His reawakening was consuming him.

  Ray had no choice but to carry him.

  His muscles burned with the strain, but he gritted his teeth and pressed forward.

  The straight corridor stretched before them, an unnatural stillness settling over it. Unlike the rest of the labyrinth, this path did not twist, did not change. It was a fixed point in the chaos.

  And behind them, the fallen outers followed.

  It started as a distant sound, a low growl reverberating through the air. Then came the pounding of limbs against stone, the scraping of claws against the walls. They were being hunted.

  Ray’s breath quickened, his grip tightening around Alkan’s legs as he adjusted his weight. "How much longer?"

  Alkan groaned, barely conscious. "…I don’t know."

  Ray cursed under his breath. He kept moving, even as his vision blurred, even as his legs threatened to give out beneath him. He couldn't stop. If he stopped, they were dead.

  He needed to awaken.

  The thought burned in his mind. He needed more strength. He needed to move his soul essence. Even now, carrying Alkan, he tried. He forced himself to focus, to push the essence within him, to guide it.

  It resisted. It slipped through his grasp, untamed and wild.

  He bit down on the pain, forcing his mind into a state of clarity. He could do this. He had to.

  The first attempts were miserable failures. He couldn't focus. His body screamed in protest, every nerve aflame with exhaustion. The pressure of carrying Alkan, the constant threat of death on their heels, and his own inexperience with soul essence made it impossible to grasp.

  But he kept trying.

  Step after step, he forced himself to reach inward, to find something within the chaos of his body. The soul essence was there, scattered, unrefined. Unlike Alkan, who had years of experience wielding his power, Ray was trying to tame something that refused to obey him.

  But he refused to give up.

  Hours passed. Or maybe it was days. He had lost track of time entirely. The only thing that existed was the relentless march forward and the pounding of his own heart.

  Then, something shifted.

  It was faint—barely perceptible—but for the first time, he felt it. A thread of warmth, an ember buried within the storm of exhaustion and pain.

  He latched onto it.

  The moment he did, the sensation nearly vanished, slipping through his grasp like water. But now that he had felt it, he knew it was real.

  Ray gritted his teeth and tried again. The next time, it lasted longer. The time after that, even longer. Bit by bit, he was finding a rhythm, a way to grasp something that wasn’t meant to be held.

  His body still ached. His mind still burned. But for the first time since entering this cursed trial, he felt the smallest glimmer of control.

  He kept moving. Kept pushing forward. Kept refining that fragile connection.

  And all the while, the fallen outers drew closer.