The world was in chaos.
But it was a good chaos, the chaos of reunions, of impossible returns, of people who had been mourned walking back into the lives of those who had mourned them.
Kiran watched the news coverage from a temporary shelter the city had set up for returning souls. The screens showed scenes from around the world: people appearing in the locations they'd been taken from, families reuniting after a decade of separation, governments scrambling to process the legal and logistical implications of millions of dead people suddenly being alive again.
"It's everywhere," Daveth said, standing beside him. "Every country where the Abyss had an entrance. Every place people were taken. They're all coming back."
"The Waiting held everyone. From every Emergence event, on every continent."
"And they're all... okay?"
"Physically, yes. The Waiting preserved them exactly as they were when they were taken. Mentally..." Kiran shook his head. "That'll take longer. For them, only moments passed. For their families, it's been years. The mismatch is going to cause problems."
Mira approached, her white eyes drawing stares from the other people in the shelter. "I've been tracking the actualization patterns. It's almost complete. Another few days and everyone who was taken will be back."
"What about those who chose to stay in the Waiting?"
"A few thousand, maybe. People who had nothing to return to, or who found something in the potential-space they preferred to reality." She shrugged. "The door stays open. They can change their minds."
"Speaking of changing minds—" Sato joined them, looking uncomfortable in the civilian clothes the shelter had provided. "What happens to us? The ones who weren't taken but descended?"
It was a question Kiran had been considering. He and his companions weren't returning souls. They were divers who had physically traveled through the Abyss and emerged transformed. Their legal status, their physical conditions, their relationships to the surface world — all of it was complicated.
"I've been talking to some government officials," he said. "They want to study us. Understand what the Abyss does to divers. Learn from our experiences."
"And you said?"
"I said I'd consider it. But not as prisoners or test subjects. As consultants. Advisors. People who can help them understand what's happening instead of being poked and prodded."
Daveth looked at his metal arm. "Think they can do anything about this?"
"Probably not. The transformations are permanent. But maybe they can help you adapt. Find ways to integrate your changes into normal life."
"Normal life." Daveth laughed bitterly. "I've been in the Abyss for... how long? I don't even know anymore. What's normal supposed to look like?"
"That's what we figure out together."
Maya emerged from the family area of the shelter, Lena in tow. The little girl was holding a new drawing — apparently the shelter had art supplies — and she immediately ran to show her father.
"Papa! Look! I drew the door!"
The drawing showed a simple rectangle, with scribbles of light behind it and a stick figure in front, presumably Kiran.
"It's beautiful, sweetheart."
"The nice lady said my drawing was special. She said I draw things that can't exist." Lena beamed. "I told her that's silly. The door does exist. You opened it."
"I did."
"Can I see it someday? The door?"
Kiran looked at Maya, who gave a small shrug. The question of whether Lena would ever enter the Abyss was one for the distant future, if ever.
"Maybe someday. When you're much, much older. And only if you really want to."
"I do want to!" Lena declared. "I want to see where Papa walked. I want to meet the Living Floors."
"The Living Floors are... complicated, sweetheart. They're not all friendly."
"You made friends with them. I saw you. In my dreams while I was waiting."
Kiran knelt to his daughter's level. "You dreamed about my journey?"
"Uh-huh. I saw you fight the fire monster. And talk to the sad floor that cries. And walk through the nothing where there's no sound." Her eyes were wide and certain. "You were brave, Papa. The bravest."
He hugged her. "I was scared. The whole time. Being brave doesn't mean not being scared. It means doing the thing anyway."
"That's what Mama says."
"Your mama is very smart."
Maya smiled, the crooked smile he'd missed for a decade. "Alright, you two. There's food being served, and I need to get some calories into this body. Actualization takes a lot of energy, apparently."
They moved toward the food area, a family reunited, surrounded by thousands of other reunions happening simultaneously.
And watching over it all, invisible but present, the Abyss observed.
Not with hunger anymore. Not with the desire to consume.
With something closer to satisfaction.
The door was open. The souls were returning. The nightmare was ending.
And what came next was only beginning to take shape.
