Arthur and Aziel had somehow made it through their sleepless night, though the experience had left both of them feeling like tired shells. The mysterious sensations that had plagued Arthur—that growing pit in the back of his head—had finally subsided sometime before dawn, leaving him with lingering questions and a persistent headache.
Now they found themselves back in the same sterile conference room where they had first encountered Cara and Maya the day before. The morning light streaming through the tall windows cast different shadows across the polished surfaces, but the room's austere atmosphere remained unchanged.
Arthur leaned heavily against the long conference table, his arms crossed as he fought to keep his eyes open. The exhaustion sat like a physical weight on his shoulders, making even standing upright feel laborious. His hair was disheveled from their restless night, and the dark circles under his eyes were testament to the sleep that had eluded him.
