Chapter 13: The Missing Thread

The early morning sun cut through the trees outside the university dorms, casting dappled light across the courtyard. The city was starting to wake up, but inside Rai's chest, something had begun to settle.

For the first time in days, his thoughts didn't race.

The night with Cyrus had helped. Not because they found answers, but because someone finally listened. And didn't ask him to be more than what he was.

He sat in the common study room now, flipping through his notebook—not searching, just... sitting with it.

Emma entered quietly, carrying two mugs. She placed one beside him without a word and sat across the table.

"Thanks," Rai said.

She looked at him, her voice soft. "You slept?"

"Little."

"But you look different."

He nodded, slowly. "I talked to Cyrus."

Emma smiled faintly. "Of course you did."

They didn't speak much after that. But it wasn't awkward. Just two people finally okay with not filling every silence.

Later that afternoon, Rai walked across campus with a quiet purpose.

He didn't even tell the group—he just followed a pull. A feeling. One he couldn't ignore anymore.

He needed to see Professor Ishvar.

The man who had circled that location on the chalkboard. The one who had whispered about shrines without explaining. The one in the photo with Rai's father—standing in front of the Nameless Shrine years ago.

He knew something.

And Rai was ready to ask.

But when he arrived at Ishvar's office, the door was locked.

Papers cleared. Nameplate gone.

He stood there for a moment, stunned. Then flagged down a faculty assistant passing by.

"Excuse me," Rai asked. "Professor Ishvar...?"

The assistant gave a tight smile. "Ah, yes. He left last week. Sudden leave of absence. Something about travel."

"Where to?"

"I'm not sure," she said. "Didn't say. Left a single note for faculty. Didn't even leave forwarding contact."

Rai stood in the hallway long after she left.

Not angry.

Just... hollow.

For the first time since the spiral dreams began, he thought: Maybe I'm too late.

But as he turned to walk away, he noticed something taped beneath the corner of the doorframe. Almost invisible.

A single torn scrap of notebook paper.

He unfolded it carefully.

"If you're the one he was waiting for… don't stop. Not even if the others tell you to."

– I.S.H.

Rai stared at the initials.

Then folded the paper and slipped it into his jacket.

Back in the dorms, the group gathered again—Emma, Owen, Marin, Iris, Cyrus, and Ronald, who leaned by the window, quiet as ever.

No one mentioned the professor. Not yet.

They were just together.

Talking. Laughing softly. Brewing cheap tea. For once, normal.

But Rai's mind was elsewhere.

The words echoed in his head:

"Don't stop."

And outside the window, wind stirred through the trees, brushing against the old stone paths like a whisper from something far older than the campus itself.