The Index fell open of its own accord.
Resting upon Kuon’s lap as he sat in the train carriage, the cover lifted as if by an invisible hand, revealing a blank page.
No—it wasn't blank.
Golden characters began to shimmer into existence upon the paper that should have been empty.
"It’s being written..."
Kuon narrowed his prosthetic eye, focusing his gaze.
The golden script was not his own. The handwriting was different—bolder, more powerful. And ancient.
"This is… a manifestation from the Original."
Kuon’s voice trembled.
"As we draw closer to the source, the annotations written into the Original are beginning to bleed through into this transcript. The two are resonating."
"What does it say?"
Koyoi leaned in from beside him to peer at the page. The golden characters were written in an archaic script, indecipherable to him.
Kuon read them. He didn't speak aloud; only his lips moved.
With every line his prosthetic eye followed, a pale blue light flickered within the socket. When he finished, he fell silent.
"Well? What was written?" Asahi asked from across the aisle.
"A warning."
Kuon started to close the Index, then stopped. More letters were still appearing.
"These are annotations left in the margins of the Original Repository by the First God. It says… 'If you enter through the main gate, you will be caught in the Observers' detection network. There is a rift on the east side of the wall. Use that.'"
"A warning meant for us?"
"I don't know. It might be a memorandum to himself. But since these notes are manifesting now, there's a chance the Original has sensed our presence."
Kuon’s finger stopped on the page. He was reading the final line.
"There’s one last sentence at the end, added in a different hand."
Kuon read it aloud.
"‘O bearer of a name. Make haste.’"
The carriage fell silent.
Only the rhythmic clatter of the wheels echoed through the car. Asahi stood up.
"I don't know if the First God is an ally or not. But the intel about avoiding the main gate is useful."
"Are we going to use it?"
"If it's a trap, we’ll just have to break through it. But I’d rather not get caught at the front door after coming all this way."
Asahi looked out the window. The gray mist was thinning. They were nearing the center of the Shadow.
Somewhere beyond it lay the Repository.
Koyoi clutched his drawstring pouch to his chest. The Shizuku within was pulsing rapidly. It wasn't fear he felt. It was something closer to anticipation.
"It said to hurry," Koyoi whispered, his voice hitching with his breath.
"Yeah. Let's move."
The train plunged into the heart of the Shadow.
Grayness swallowed the windows, plunging the carriage into gloom. But even in the dark, the golden letters of the Index did not fade.
The scent changed. The scenery followed a moment later.
His skin felt the boundary before his eyes saw it. Koyoi pressed the pouch against his chest, counting the heartbeat thrumming through the fabric. The damp saltiness in the air had suddenly grown thick.
The three did not meet each other's eyes. Instead, they simply fell into a silent, synchronized rhythm.
The golden script continued to pulse quietly in the darkened car. Even after being read, the First God's warning remained luminous on the page.
Make haste, it urged.
The train wheels struck a higher note as they crossed a joint in the tracks.
The Repository was close.