No one spoke.
Not for a full minute.
The silence in the room was louder than any scream—thicker than any argument. It was the kind of silence that came right before something irreversible happened.
Lucien lay still on the couch.
Her breath was shallow.
Her soul, fading.
And the air grew colder.
The Seal was calling.
"I'll go," Elias said at last.
His words were steady. Final. Like he had already made peace with the choice long before speaking it aloud.
Kade stepped forward.
"You think I'm letting you be the one?"
"You don't have a choice," Elias replied.
"She won't trust you. Not yet. You're too much of a ghost to her."
Kade's fists clenched.
"And you're what? Her savior?"
Elias looked away.
"No. But I'm broken in all the right places."
Evelyn stepped up beside him, her hand resting gently on his arm.
"There's no guarantee you'll come back."
"I know."
Dave frowned.
"You sure about this?"
Elias smirked faintly.
"No. But it's not about being sure. It's about being the one who moves when everyone else freezes."
Jonas finally spoke.
"You cross that line, there's no map. No backup. And no rules."
Elias nodded.
"Sounds familiar."
Kade turned away, jaw tight. He didn't like it.
Didn't agree.
But deep down…
He knew Elias was the only one who could do this.
Lucien's body twitched—barely.
Her breath hitched, as if something on the other side of the veil had tugged at her.
The room trembled.
Then, the floor beneath them shifted—something hidden beneath the old carpet began to glow.
A seal. Ancient. Faintly pulsing.
The Gate.
Elias stepped toward it.
No fanfare.
No goodbyes.
Just a deep breath… and a whisper:
"Let's bring her home."
He stepped onto the seal.
"Hey," Jonas called out suddenly.
"If you see my dead goldfish on the Other Side… tell him I said sorry for the toilet."
Without missing a beat, Dave grabbed a glass and hurled it at Jonas's head—
CRASH.
"Shut up!"
Elias burst out laughing—loud and real—just as the seal lit up.
He stepped onto the seal—
And vanished.
Like smoke in the wind.