Fog drags low over the mud as the red lantern house looms ahead. Kynes keeps the pendant raised, its pulse matching the glow in the upper window.

Bren slows at his shoulder, blade ready. The hooded messenger stumbles between them, suddenly pale as the door frame creaks open.

The pendant flares hard in Kynes’s hand. From within the lantern house, a second red gleam answers, steady and patient, like an eye opening in the dark.

Kynes steps toward the threshold, with Bren and the shaking messenger behind him. Nezznar is no longer a rumor, he waits beyond the door, and this is the moment that turns the hunt into confrontation.

Kynes peers into the dim interior, where the red light reveals not one figure, but two. A second silhouette stands motionless in the shadows behind the pedestal, watching the door with predatory stillness.

The pendant flares red in Kynes's hand. The Messenger stiffens, then turns and walks into the lantern house as if pulled by an invisible thread.

Mud drips from the Hooded Figure's knees as they remain standing in the street, eyes fixed on the doorway and their breath shallow.

Inside, the red-lit room opens wider than it first appears. The pedestal sits ahead, and the second silhouette shifts once, just enough to catch the light.

The Messenger crosses the threshold and slows under the pressure of the pendant, glancing back with a confused, hunted look.

A sliver of the interior resolves, revealing a narrow approach and no immediate alarm. The lantern's glow steadies, waiting.

Kynes holds the line outside while the Messenger scouts ahead, and the hidden figure beyond the pedestal remains motionless. The room seems to hold its breath.