The silence after Kael's words wasn't empty.
It pulsed.
Like the walls of the arcade were holding their breath, waiting to see what they'd do next.
No one moved. Not really. Just the soft shifting of weight. The creak of Rin's boots against cracked tile. The electronic whine of a CRT screen struggling to live again.
Kael looked at each of them, his chest tight. "I don't think that screen was just for me anymore."
Juno's expression darkened. "It wasn't."
Mace crossed his arms. "Right, because we really needed one more creepy prophetic image burned into our retinas tonight."
Rin didn't laugh. She looked down at her palm instead, tracing the faint rune burned into her skin with her thumb.
"It's escalating," she murmured. "The symbols. The visions. The tethers. None of this is random."
Kael leaned against the counter, rubbing the back of his neck. "Then what is it? A test? A ritual?"
"Or a hunt," Juno said flatly.
Mace snapped his fingers. "Okay, nope. See, this is where we draw the line. I didn't sign up for a cursed goose chase across magic land."
"You didn't sign up," Rin cut in, "but you're marked. Same as us."
"Yeah, and none of us know what that actually means!" Mace snapped, stepping forward. "What if the mark's just a countdown? What if that blade on the screen—what if it's not waiting for us? What if it's coming?"
The words hung like frost.
Kael closed his eyes. "The vision said the tether is a line between worlds. A promise of power… or ruin."
Rin lifted her gaze. "Each one had a color. Silver. Obsidian. Red. Sapphire. Amber. Five. One for each of us."
Mace scoffed. "Oh, so now we're matching colors like it's a group project? You really think it splits that clean?"
Juno's voice was low. "I do. Because I've seen the silver thread in my dreams. It always pulls toward something… burning. Like a truth hidden under ash."
Kael blinked. "Then maybe we do have roles. Paths."
"But what happens if we choose wrong?" Rin asked, her voice steady but cold. "The figure said only one would save us. The rest would claim us."
Mace muttered, "Sounds like a trap disguised as a choice."
Kael looked at his own hand again, expecting to see the mark glowing—but it didn't need to be. He could still feel it, humming beneath his skin like a second pulse.
"I don't think we get to avoid this," he said quietly. "Whatever's coming... it's already started."
Rin turned away, walking toward the far wall where a busted rhythm game screen flickered in rhythm with the flickering sign outside. "Then we dig deeper. We figure out what the tethers actually do. What they want from us."
Juno nodded. "And we start with the one Kael saw. The black blade bound in chains."
Mace groaned. "Great. Love that our spirit mascot is a murder sword."
"We gather information," Rin continued, ignoring him. "Tonight, we stay here. Map it out. Match what we saw. Compare dreams. Warnings. Symbols. The tether isn't the end. It's the beginning."
Kael looked at the others.
For the first time since the nightmares began, they didn't look like friends anymore.
They looked like a team.
Mismatched. Messed up. But united by something bigger than all of them.
Outside, thunder rolled. A low growl from a sky that had forgotten how to sleep.
And in the shadows of the arcade, the blade's symbol burned faintly on every screen.
Watching.
Waiting.