Somewhere Beneath Prague – Same Time Katherine's pulse slowed as she controlled her breathing. The voice that had questioned her earlier had left. Now, another presence entered the chamber.
A young man—barely thirty—dressed not in ritual robes but a crisp, modern suit.
His tone was gentle, almost regretful.
"I didn't want this," he said, adjusting a silver pin on his lapel. It bore the same ouroboros symbol from the crime scene. "But the manuscript... it's not just a scientific breakthrough, Katherine. It's a key." She said nothing.
The man leaned closer. "What you discovered—consciousness as a unifying field, the ability of thought to influence matter—it's real. But it's also dangerous." Katherine turned slowly toward him. Her voice was hoarse.
"And you want to hide it?" "No," the man replied. "We want to finish it. Your research only scratched the surface." He pulled out a small, leather-bound notebook—her own journal.
And inside it, she saw additions.
Symbols she hadn't written. Equations she'd never solved.
"You're not the first to touch the mind's door," the man said softly.
"And you won't be the last."