They moved toward the passage’s depths, like wading into a throat that kept swallowing light.

The wind carried a wet, moldy tang, heavy as damp burlap.

Hedi frowned and covered her mouth and nose, the smell like rotting leaves. A carpet of dead foliage piled thick on the ground, soaked by rain and snow, turning to mildew and stench.

They kept on, deeper along the passage, like following a river that refused to end.

A blurred shadow swam into view, a smear against the dim glow.

The Investigator still leaned against the wall, as if asleep standing. No cuts, no scorch, not even a singe. His goggles and hood sat square on his face.

“So strange. You burned him with flame.”

“If the change includes the corpse, it’s not strange.”

“You mean the Investigator became part of the Dark Realm?”

Hedi lowered her eyes, thumb rubbing her jaw, calm like a winter pond. “That’s the guess. But flame must cause harm. A change should show a new shape, like the passage did.”

“Could it be a rewind—back to before the flame?”

“Don’t know.”

“You could burn him again.”

“If the cockroach-trigger-on-action theory holds, we can’t gamble.” Hedi stepped to the Investigator and checked the pockets, fingers light as a cat’s paw. “There’s a letter here. Looks like a notebook.”

“Pro… Professor!”

“Don’t worry. Opening the door didn’t trigger the roaches. Touching a pocket won’t.”

She finished, then steered Selina back, step by careful step, like pulling away from a cliff edge. They retreated to the furthest point where the Investigator remained in sight. Hedi stopped and, with a soft light spell gilding her fingers, read the notebook.

A rough route map filled the first page. The date beside it was smudged to fog.

The handwriting sprawled, cramped and twisted, earthworms knotted together. She had to be patient to decode it:

By the time since we entered the Dark Realm, this is Day Three.

I’m in the passage’s room now, chewing canned food while I write.

Briefly about the first two days: we searched the grassland for that woman. Nowhere. I told them to quit the chase. Our task is to close the Dark Realm. I was outvoted.

They said someone has to bear the cost of forcing the Dark Realm open.

I understand. But the Dark Realm grows more dangerous with time. Each dawn worse than the last.

Compared to that death-chasing woman, our lives matter more.

Back to business.

We found a passage leading underground on the grassland’s south. It might reach the Dark Realm’s core.

The Captain split us into two teams. I and another Investigator would try to close the Dark Realm. The Captain took the rest to keep looking for the woman.

Also, if the Inspector is reading this, forgive me for calling her “that woman.” She doesn’t deserve my ink.

I went into the passage with the other Investigator. We tied ourselves together with rope.

The passage was darker than we expected. You could feel a cool, clammy wind blowing from far ahead, like breath from a cave.

It didn’t wash clean. It stuck like wet cloth.

Anyway, we spent two days entering the passage, still searching for the woman as we went.

Without the passage, we would’ve buzzed around the grassland like headless flies.

There’s not much to say about the passage itself.

The other Investigator kept writing like me. His records were fair and accurate, unlike my whining. He detailed mutations in ordinary people caused by Dark Realm Erosion.

Now about the room.

The notes are messy. Inspector, please excuse the clutter.

After about a day of walking in the passage, we found this room. It looks like something the Dark Realm formed naturally while building its world, but compared to the grassland, the passage, and this semi-modern room, it’s strange.

We dumped all our supplies here. The Captain left us an axe and scrolls. He must have anticipated the woman’s mutation and prepped us to fight.

Honestly, I’m bad at combat. My Investigator fitness scores are near the bottom.

If we run into the mutated woman, running is a valid plan.

Day Seven.

Four days since my last entry.

I wear a wristwatch and remember the entry time, so I’m sharp with the count. The other Investigator isn’t. This oppressive place shook him. He’s fraying.

That’s on the Captain.

He never ordered us to close the Dark Realm, so we sat in this sunless pit, waiting like caged birds.

I tried to contact him. Our comms seem fine. The issue is his end. I can’t hear anything—no reply, not even static.

My partner started smashing walls with the axe, venting his rage.

It’s a good method, honestly. Once the Dark Realm’s world finishes building, it stops changing. Even if you break a wall, it restores quickly, like water mending around a rock.

Sometimes, though, the banging keeps me from sleep.

Day Ten.

The Captain is missing.

After repeated calls with no result, we had to accept it. My partner begged me to close the Dark Realm with him.

I agreed.

He ran out of the room, thrilled. I stayed to tally supplies. The unused gear needs to go back to the Institute.

The passage is longer than we thought. We walked forever and never reached the core.

Soon, I heard a sound.

It came from far ahead. Tiny, easy to miss. Like a faint tremor in the earth, or heavy metal grinding against metal. Cold and sinister, like a massive worm crawling up my spine.

The volume stayed low, just brushing the edge of hearing.

We turned back. That sound is not a normal Dark Realm noise.

It didn’t stop for a long time.

My partner quit his notes and went at the walls again, smashing like he could break the sky.

Hedi finished reading and rubbed her eyes, irritation like sand under the lid.

“What’s in it?”

“Nothing but garbage.” She sighed, breath a thin frost. “Do you Dark Realm Investigators always write notes like this nonsense?”

“Based on mood,” Selina said flatly. “You could call it a diary.”

“Ugly handwriting, endless fluff. A complete waste of my time.”

“I see…”

Hedi splayed the notebook again and skimmed, sidestepping the mutated woman, voice steady as a plumb line. “Still, not zero clues. Walking deeper along the passage can close the Dark Realm. Their clothes aren’t anti-roach armor… more like workwear. And the roaches appear as time passes. At first, there were none.”

“Then we head for the passage’s depths and close the Dark Realm!”

“But there’s no exit plan. After it’s closed, we’ll be stuck here.”

“The Investigator’s crystal can leave the Dark Realm. You just hold my hand.”

“Why not use it now?”

“We need a weak point in the Dark Realm. That’s the core.”

“Damn it.” Hedi kicked the wall hard, anger like a spark in dry grass. “When I burned the Investigator, I almost regretted it. Thought he had vital intel. Turns out it’s this rambling trash.”

She stopped, a breath catching like a bird in a snare, then hurried to Selina. “Sorry. Lost my temper.”

“It’s okay,” Selina answered—and the chill hit her like a tide underfoot.

The passage was about to do something very, very wrong.