It appeared at the edge of the Hollow District. Not from a breach. Not from a seam. It was simply there, as if it had always been there and the world had only now noticed. A humanoid figure, tall and thin, its edges blurring like smoke in wind. Its face was smooth. Blank. But not like the forgotten. Not like the erased. Worse. Elias saw it clearly. Existence Awareness flared, and the figure came into focus. It existed in a state between existence and nonexistence. Partially erased. Not gone. Not whole. Something in between. Ordinary people would not have seen it at all. "What is that?" Lyra whispered. Elias did not answer. He was watching the figure. The threads around it were shattered. Not frayed like the forgotten. Not absent like the void. Shattered. Broken pieces of what had once been a whole existence. The figure turned its blank face toward him. "Boundary Child." Its voice was not a voice. It was a pressure. A weight that pressed against Elias's skull. "The King send