Thorne held out a small, metallic sphere that pulsed with a soft, rhythmic light. "Hold this. If you feel like you’re falling, don't try to catch yourself. That’s just the gravity of your own soul coming back online."

"Wait," Elias stammered, his fingers inches from the light. "What happens in Part 2?"

"You’re glitching, Elias," Thorne said, not looking up from a folder made of translucent vellum.

He stood up and walked to a sleek, chrome console behind his desk. He tapped a sequence, and the room’s lighting shifted to a deep, underwater indigo.