Noah didn’t move.
Neither did the thing outside.
The knife felt heavy in his hand.
The crimson countdown hovered at the edge of his vision.
[61:38:04]
Tick.
[61:38:03]
Tick.
The room was silent.
Too silent.
The voice still echoed inside his head.
"Found you."
Every instinct screamed that something was wrong.
Very wrong.
The problem was that Noah couldn’t remember who had spoken those words in the novel.
He knew he had seen them before.
Somewhere.
Some Chapter.
Some scene.
But the memory refused to surface.
His grip tightened around the knife.
Slowly, carefully, he approached the door.
One step.
Then another.
The floorboards creaked beneath his feet.
The presence remained outside.
Waiting.
Watching.
Noah swallowed.
Then suddenly yanked the door open.
The hallway was empty.
Nothing.
No monster.
No assassin.
No mysterious figure.
Just a dimly lit corridor stretching into darkness.
Noah frowned.
His pulse remained elevated.
He stepped into the hallway.
The air felt cold.
Unnaturally cold.
A shiver ran down his spine.
Something wasn’t right.
Then he noticed it.
A black feather.
Lying on the floor.
His eyes narrowed.
The feather was large.
Far larger than any normal bird’s.
Its surface shimmered faintly under the lantern light.
Noah bent down and picked it up.
The moment his fingers touched it—
Pain exploded inside his head.
A vision flashed before his eyes.
A sky drenched in crimson.
A battlefield covered in corpses.
Mountains collapsing.
Oceans boiling.
Gods screaming.
And above it all—
A colossal figure seated upon a throne of bones.
Its face remained hidden beneath darkness.
But its eyes...
Its eyes burned like dying stars.
Noah gasped.
The vision vanished.
The feather crumbled into ash.
His breathing became ragged.
"What the fuck was that?"
Nobody answered.
The hallway remained silent.
Yet the feeling of being watched only grew stronger.
Noah returned to his room and slammed the door shut.
Something was definitely changing.
The novel wasn’t following its original plot.
First the strange voice.
Now this.
Events that shouldn’t happen until much later were appearing now.
As though someone had taken the story and started tearing pages out.
Noah sat heavily on the bed.
His thoughts raced.
If the future was changing—
Then his greatest advantage was disappearing.
Future knowledge meant nothing if the future itself was unstable.
"Damn it."
This was becoming worse by the minute.
Then a sharp knock echoed from the door.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Noah immediately stood.
His hand returned to the knife.
The knock came again.
More impatient this time.
"Noah!"
A young male voice.
Human.
At least it sounded human.
Noah hesitated.
Then opened the door.
A blond teenager stood outside.
Athletic build.
Bright green eyes.
An annoyed expression.
The moment Noah saw him, recognition struck.
Eric Walker.
One of Noah Blackwood’s classmates.
A minor character from the novel.
Harmless.
Mostly.
"Why the hell are you hiding in your room?" Eric asked.
Noah blinked.
"What?"
"The academy messenger is looking for applicants."
Noah froze.
The academy messenger.
His examination location.
A cold feeling settled in his stomach.
No.
It was too early.
The assignment wasn’t supposed to arrive until tomorrow.
Not today.
Tomorrow.
That’s how it happened in the novel.
Yet here it was.
Another change.
Another deviation.
Another crack in fate.
Eric frowned.
"You coming or not?"
Noah forced himself to nod.
"Yeah."
The two of them headed downstairs.
Dozens of applicants had gathered inside the dormitory lobby.
An academy official stood at the center.
A stack of sealed envelopes rested in his hands.
Noah’s heart pounded.
This was it.
The moment that determined whether he lived or died.
One by one, names were called.
Students stepped forward.
Received envelopes.
Returned to the crowd.
Then—
"Noah Blackwood."
The world seemed to slow.
Noah walked forward.
Accepted the envelope.
Stepped back.
His hands felt strangely numb.
The crowd gradually dispersed.
People began opening their assignments.
Noah stared at the envelope.
For several seconds, he couldn’t bring himself to move.
Finally, he broke the seal.
A single sheet of paper slid out.
His eyes scanned the contents.
Then his face went pale.
Because the location written there wasn’t supposed to exist.
Not in the original novel.
Not in any Chapter he remembered.
Not anywhere.
The paper contained only four words.
EXAMINATION SITE: BLACKTHORN FOREST
Below it was a single sentence.
A sentence written in crimson ink.
A sentence that made Noah’s blood run cold.
"This time, try not to die."