The Man Beyond The Map

CHAPTER 24 — THE TRACKS

The handwriting was mine.

I knew it immediately.

I didn't know how.

I didn't know when I'd written it.

But I knew.

Three words.

COME FIND ME.

They were carved deep into the stone.

The letters were clean.

Precise.

Deliberate.

The same way I wrote everything.

The other Aria stepped closer.

"You recognize it."

"Yes."

"How?"

I ran my fingers across the letters.

"I don't know."

The hostess stood beside me.

"What if you wrote it recently?"

I shook my head.

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I remember writing it."

Both women stared at me.

I pulled my hand away from the stone.

"Just not here."

The ocean continued retreating.

It moved farther from the shoreline, exposing more of the seabed.

The staircase descended into the earth.

But the ocean shouldn't have been able to do this.

The water wasn't simply receding.

It was obeying something.

The other Aria looked toward the horizon.

"We need to go."

"Why?"

"Because when the water comes back..."

She paused.

"...we won't have anywhere to run."

I looked down the staircase.

Darkness waited below.

The hostess stepped beside me.

"You're thinking about going down there."

"Yes."

"Of course you are."

I looked at her.

She smiled faintly.

"You're impossible."

"You've known me for one day."

She looked at the staircase.

"Maybe longer."

The words made my chest tighten.

The other Aria turned.

"I'm going."

I looked at her.

"You're sure?"

"No."

She started down.

"I'm just tired of being afraid of things I don't understand."

We followed.

The exposed seabed was enormous.

Broken shells covered the ground.

Strange plants curled beneath the rocks.

Fish flapped helplessly in shallow pools.

Farther out, massive shapes moved beneath the remaining water.

I didn't look too closely.

I didn't want to know what lived there.

The staircase was made from black stone.

Each step was perfectly preserved.

No algae.

No erosion.

It looked as if someone had built it yesterday.

We descended.

Ten steps.

Twenty.

Thirty.

The sound of the ocean faded behind us.

The deeper we went, the warmer the air became.

Then we reached a landing.

A corridor stretched ahead.

There were footprints in the dust.

Fresh ones.

I crouched.

Bare feet.

Human.

"Someone's been here."

The other Aria looked at them.

"How recent?"

I touched the edge of one.

"Minutes."

The hostess looked behind us.

"Then we're not alone."

"No."

I stood.

"We aren't."

We continued.

The corridor opened into a massive chamber.

There were statues along the walls.

Hundreds of them.

Warriors.

Kings.

Women.

Children.

Creatures I couldn't identify.

All facing the same direction.

Toward a throne.

An empty throne.

I stopped.

Something inside me reacted.

Not fear.

Recognition.

The hostess noticed.

"What?"

"I've seen this."

"Where?"

"In a dream."

I walked forward.

The throne was made of black stone.

Two enormous wings were carved into its back.

I touched the armrest.

The chamber changed.

For an instant, the statues were alive.

Thousands of people filled the room.

They knelt.

I stood before them.

Not as a soldier.

Not as Ethan Cross.

Something else.

Something ancient.

The hostess stood beside me.

Her hand was in mine.

A crown rested on my head.

Someone shouted:

"Long live the King!"

The crowd answered.

The vision disappeared.

I pulled my hand away.

The other Aria was staring at me.

"You were sitting there."

I nodded.

"Yes."

She looked frightened.

"You were different."

"How?"

She swallowed.

"Powerful."

The hostess touched my arm.

"Did you hurt those people?"

"I don't know."

The other Aria pointed toward the statues.

"Look."

A statue near the throne had cracked.

Something was visible inside it.

Metal.

I approached.

My fingers brushed the stone.

The statue split apart.

Inside was a skeleton.

Human.

Around its neck hung a military identification tag.

I picked it up.

The name was almost erased.

But the year was clear.

1989.

The hostess stared.

"That year again."

"What?"

"The photograph."

She was right.

The photograph we'd found in the shelter had been dated 1989.

The same year.

I turned the tag over.

A symbol had been engraved on the back.

Seven circles.

One glowing.

My chest burned.

The floor trembled.

The throne moved.

Not physically.

Something beneath it shifted.

A section of the floor opened.

A narrow staircase appeared.

The other Aria stepped back.

"No."

I looked at her.

"What?"

"I've seen that staircase."

"Where?"

"In my dreams."

The hostess looked at her.

"You dream about this place too?"

"Sometimes."

"What happens?"

The other Aria's face went pale.

"I watch Ethan walk down it."

I stared at her.

"Alone?"

She looked at me.

"No."

"Who is with me?"

She hesitated.

"You."

She pointed at the hostess.

"But you're different."

The hostess frowned.

"Different how?"

"You have violet eyes."

She touched her own eyes.

"So do I."

"Not in the dream."

The other Aria looked at me.

"In the dream, your eyes are white."

My skin prickled.

The hostess stepped closer.

"What happens after he goes down?"

The other Aria shook her head.

"I don't know."

"Why?"

"Because I always wake up when the door opens."

"What door?"

She pointed down the staircase.

"The one at the bottom."

I looked down.

At the end of the stairs was a door.

Black.

Covered in symbols.

And in the center—

A handprint.

I walked toward it.

The hostess grabbed my hand.

"Wait."

I looked back.

She was staring at me.

"Promise me something."

"What?"

"Whatever you remember down there..."

She swallowed.

"...don't let it change who you are now."

I studied her face.

"Why?"

"Because I like the man standing in front of me."

My chest tightened.

She stepped closer.

"I don't know who you used to be."

Her fingers brushed mine.

"And I don't care."

I looked into her eyes.

"You should."

"Maybe."

She smiled.

"But I care who you choose to be."

For a moment, the ancient chamber disappeared.

I leaned toward her.

Our foreheads touched.

She closed her eyes.

I kissed her.

Slowly.

Gently.

The kiss carried everything neither of us could explain.

Fear.

Recognition.

Loneliness.

And something that felt dangerously close to love.

When we separated, she remained close.

"Come back."

"I will."

She smiled.

"That sounded familiar."

"It did."

We turned toward the door.

I placed my hand against it.

Nothing happened.

I pressed harder.

Still nothing.

Then the hostess placed her hand over mine.

The door opened.

Cold air rushed past us.

Beyond it was darkness.

Not ordinary darkness.

Something deeper.

Something alive.

We stepped inside.

The door closed behind us.

The room was enormous.

At its center stood a circular pool.

The water was perfectly still.

A single object floated on its surface.

A military dog tag.

I walked toward it.

The other Aria whispered:

"Don't."

I reached into the water.

My fingers touched the tag.

The world disappeared.

---

I was standing on the ocean.

Not beside it.

On it.

The water was beneath my feet.

The sky above me was red.

Three moons hung overhead.

Aria stood across from me.

The same woman.

Violet eyes.

Dark hair.

But she was crying.

"Why did you leave?"

"I didn't."

"You did."

"I had no choice."

"You always have a choice."

Behind her stood a city.

It was burning.

Thousands of people were running.

The sky was filled with creatures.

Angels.

Dragons.

Things with wings made of fire.

And above them all—

Me.

Floating in the air.

My eyes were black.

Seven symbols burned across my chest.

The city below trembled.

Aria looked at me.

"What have you done?"

I looked down.

My hands were covered in blood.

I whispered:

"I forgot how to stop."

The vision shattered.

---

I hit the floor.

The dog tag fell from my hand.

The hostess caught me.

"Ethan!"

I gasped for air.

The other Aria crouched beside me.

"What did you see?"

I couldn't speak.

The images were still burning inside my mind.

The city.

The fire.

Aria.

Me.

The blood.

I looked at the hostess.

She was staring at me.

"Tell me."

I shook my head.

"I saw you."

Her eyes widened.

"What was I doing?"

"Crying."

She swallowed.

"Why?"

"I don't know."

The other Aria looked toward the pool.

"Look."

The water had changed.

It was no longer clear.

Something black moved beneath its surface.

Slowly.

Coming closer.

I stood.

"What is that?"

The other Aria backed away.

"I don't know."

The hostess grabbed my hand.

The thing beneath the water stopped.

Then rose.

A face emerged.

Human.

Male.

Pale.

Eyes closed.

I recognized him.

"Kane."

His eyes opened.

Silver.

He smiled.

"You finally remembered."

I raised my weapon.

"Where are we?"

Kane laughed.

"You still think this is an island."

The pool began overflowing.

Water poured across the floor.

Kane stood inside it.

Unharmed.

"You were never brought here to survive."

I aimed at his chest.

"Then why?"

His smile disappeared.

"To finish what you started."

"What did I start?"

Kane looked past me.

At the hostess.

Then at the other Aria.

His expression changed.

Fear.

Real fear.

"That's the wrong question."

I tightened my grip.

"Then what's the right one?"

Kane whispered:

"Which one of them did you love first?"

The water beneath us began to rise.

And both women looked at me.