Chapter 96: Promotions
Elias lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling, his thoughts spiraling as he tried to make sense of everything. The past few weeks had been a blur—battle, survival, training, and now, a looming deadline hanging over their heads. It all felt like too much.
Inside the shard, Dot’s sat with her legs crossed, peering out through the strange, hazy connection she shared with Elias’s mind. "Are you okay?"
Elias sighed internally. "I think so... I just feel like I don’t know nearly enough. About this whole situation, about my abilities... about you. But it’s nice having you along for the ride. I imagine everyone else feels the same about their Ikona."
Dot’s hummed. "That is true."
His eyelids grew heavy, the weight of exhaustion finally pulling him under. Just as he drifted off, his mind fumbled for one last thought.
"Dot’s... do you have any idea how old you might be? Or why you were inside the shard?"
A pause.
"No... but I have theories," Dot’s admitted. "Though—oh. You’re already asleep."
She hovered in the space within the shard, her tiny hands pressing against the faintly glowing walls. A warmth pulsed through them—a familiar feeling, yet she couldn’t place where she had felt it before.
Then, in a blink, she was somewhere else.
A long, narrow corridor stretched before her, Elias standing at the center, confusion flickering in his expression. At the far end, the Doctor sat in his rolling chair, spinning lazily before stopping to face them. Above his head, a clock ticked down—13 days remaining.