“So, you’re just leaving me,” said Betty.

  “No! Of course not!” Joe replied.

  Joe, Levi, and Jane had climbed back up the rocky ledge, checked the small hole in the wall to ensure it was still passable, and regrouped with Pete and Betty on the rocks where they had first landed after being dragged into the Harbinger’s cave.

  “You’re abandoning your cougar,” Betty said.

  Joe sighed, rubbing the back of his head. “I thought you weren’t a cougar.”

  “I’m not,” she snapped. “But you sure act like I’m some stray you’re ready to leave behind.”

  Joe glanced at the others for support, but they all avoided his gaze. No one was stepping in to help. Great. This one was all on him.

  “We’re not leaving you,” he said firmly. “We’re just going up to look for a way out for you. We’ll come back. I promise.”

  Betty didn’t respond. Instead, her speakers blared to life, blasting “Staying Alive” at full volume again. Pete jumped back, nearly losing his balance. Levi shot Joe a look, mouthing, “She’s a child.”

  “Betty! Turn it off!” Joe yelled over the music.

  She didn’t. The Bee Gees kept belting out their disco anthem.

  Joe gritted his teeth. Fine. If she wanted to act like a child, she could be treated like one.

  “Alright, timeout for you!” he said, waving for the others to follow him.

  They’d barely started toward the hole in the cave wall when a deafening crack tore through the air. The cave shook. Dust and tiny rocks rained down as a shockwave rippled through the cavern. Joe spun back, shielding his face from the blast.

  Hovering just above the edge of inky water was a tear in the air. Its jagged edges shimmered, and the energy pouring out of it whipped the surrounding air into chaos. It looked exactly like the one Joe had seen earlier.

  Betty stopped the music. At least there was that.

  “What the hell is that?” Levi’s weapon was already in his hand.

  Joe took a hesitant step closer, ignoring the heat radiating from the tear. “It’s like the thing from before,” he muttered, more to himself than anyone else. “Something—or someone—spoke to me through it.”

  “Joe, be careful!” Pete’s voice cracked behind him, but Joe didn’t stop.

  The tear pulsed with a rhythm Joe recognised all too well. It’s strange, otherworldly light throbbed in time. Joe edged closer, his steps growing bolder with each stride.

  His fingers were inches away when the tear collapsed on itself. It didn’t simply close—it snapped shut, as though an invisible, industrial-sized vacuum had swallowed it whole. A blinding flash of light erupted, forcing Joe to shield his eyes.

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  When the brilliance faded, Joe lowered his arm and blinked against the spots dancing in his vision.

  Someone stood where the tear had been moments ago.

  Joe squinted, his mind struggling to reconcile the figure in front of him. At first glance, he’d half-mistaken him for a child. The man was short—slightly shorter than fourteen-year-old Pete—but his posture and presence were far from juvenile.

  He was painfully thin, his frail frame barely filling the intricate golden suit he wore. The suit was unlike anything Joe had ever seen before. It looked like a three-piece, but the material shimmered with an almost regal glow. Intricate carvings adorned the fabric, giving it the appearance of something ceremonial rather than functional.

  His head was sparsely covered with wisps of hair, thin enough that Joe could see the pale, wrinkled scalp beneath. Round glasses perched on the tip of his nose, magnifying tired, sunken eyes framed by dark, heavy bags that betrayed his age despite his otherwise smooth, clean-shaven face.

  Joe’s attention dropped to the man’s feet. His shoes—or slippers, as they seemed to be—were just as unusual as the rest of him. They were slip-ons, clearly devoid of laces or buckles, and their soft sheen matched the luxurious oddity of the suit.

  It was as though the man had stepped out of another time, another world. And yet, something about him felt fragile, almost breakable, despite the grandeur of his appearance.

  “We must forgo the formalities; there isn’t much time,” the man said, his tone brisk but oddly familiar, as if addressing old friends. His focus shifted to Levi, who Joe only now noticed had his revolver trained directly on the newcomer.

  “You won’t be needing that,” the man said, raising a hand slightly in Levi’s direction. The revolver yanked itself from Levi’s grip and hit the ground with a deafening clang, the impact almost mirroring the way Joe had crumpled under the weight of the Gold Eater’s armour earlier. Levi’s eyes went wide as he bent down to retrieve it, but his hands struggled against an impossible weight, the gun refusing to budge. It reminded Joe of that scene in Avengers where everyone tried to lift Mjolnir.

  “Who the hell are you?” Levi shouted as he straightened up, abandoning the futile effort.

  “I am the reason you are here. I am Ralei,” the man said.

  “You’re the reason we’re here?” Pete spoke up from behind. Joe turned to glance at him, noting the weight behind Pete’s words. It was as if the full scope of their predicament had finally settled on him.

  “Yes,” Ralei replied with a solemn nod. “And I am sorry. But if you were not here, your realm—Earth, I believe it’s called—would already be gone.”

  “You son of a bitch,” Levi growled, his fists clenching so tightly that Joe thought he might take a swing.

  “Levi, stop. Hear him out,” Joe interjected. His eyes flicked to Betty, who sat unusually quiet.

  “Thank you, Joe,” Ralei said, locking eyes with him. He carried a weight of sincerity that Joe wasn’t entirely sure how to process. He nodded back, unsure of what else to do.

  “You’ve done well to slow the merge so far,” Ralei continued. “But you must move faster. I thought I had equipped you properly to make haste, but it seems I miscalculated.”

  Joe glanced around at the group, trying to read their expressions, before it dawned on him that Ralei wasn’t addressing them—he was talking directly to him.

  “Me?” Joe asked, pointing at himself.

  “Yes, you,” Ralei confirmed.

  “Uh, I don’t think you gave me anything,” Joe replied, bewildered. “I had that... meat cannon thing or whatever it was, but that disappeared after I killed the crab. And my guide—Terrence, or whatever he was—kind of glitched out and vanished. I figured you meant Betty when you said I had some kind of tool to help.”

  Ralei shifted his weight, looking over Joe’s shoulder at Betty. She hadn’t moved, hadn’t spoken.

  “I’m afraid I cannot explain that,” Ralei said after a pause.

  “I’m talking about your Manifold Staff.”

  “My mani-what-what?” said Joe.

  Ralei stared off into the distance, giving the same look as Levi and Pete when they looked through their inventory.

  “Your stick.” He finally said.