Chapter 69: Observer
Professor Ellis’s voice echoed through the warehouse.
"...Help..."
It was weak.
Hoarse.
But unmistakably human.
Every instinct told me to run toward it.
Noah took half a step forward before stopping himself. His eyes never left Lucien.
"You said he was unfortunate."
Lucien’s expression remained unreadable.
"I did."
"Is he hurt?"
"He is alive."
"That wasn’t my question."
"No."
Lucien smiled faintly.
"It wasn’t."
The silence that followed was suffocating.
The wind slipped through the broken warehouse, making loose sheets of corrugated metal groan overhead.
Somewhere inside, water dripped rhythmically onto concrete.
Professor Ellis coughed.
The sound was closer this time.
Noah slowly reached into his pocket and took out his phone.
"I’m calling the police."
Lucien made no attempt to stop him.
"You should."
Noah frowned.
"I intend to."
"I know."
His answer was so calm that it only made the situation stranger.
Noah dialed emergency services and activated the speaker.
The call connected almost immediately.
"Emergency dispatch. What is your emergency?"
"This is Noah Walker."
"My friend and I are at the abandoned Eastbridge Freight Depot."
"We’ve located a missing person."
"Professor Andrew Ellis."
"There appears to be another individual on site."
As Noah spoke, Lucien simply stood there, listening.
He didn’t interrupt.
He didn’t flee.
He didn’t even seem concerned.
The dispatcher responded quickly.
"Stay where you are."
"Officers have been dispatched."
"Do not approach any suspicious individual."
Estimated arrival time: twelve minutes."
Twelve minutes.
It felt impossibly long.
Noah ended the call but kept the phone in his hand.
"The police are coming."
Lucien nodded politely.
"Good."
I stared at him.
"Weren’t you expecting that?"
"I was."
His gaze shifted toward me.
"You’ve been making assumptions since the exhibition."
"I thought tonight might encourage you to make fewer."
"What are you talking about?"
"The simplest assumption."
He tilted his head.
"That I kidnapped your professor."
Neither Noah nor I answered.
Because...
Hadn’t we?
Lucien looked almost disappointed.
"You arrived."
"You saw me standing outside."
"You heard someone ask for help."
"And you immediately decided I was responsible."
His voice remained calm.
"But you never asked why I was waiting outside instead of hiding inside."
Noah’s grip on his phone tightened.
"If you’re innocent..."
"...explain."
"I intend to."
Lucien stepped aside.
Only one step.
Just enough to expose the darkness beyond the broken warehouse doors.
"I’m not preventing either of you from entering."
Neither of us moved.
"You see?"
He folded his hands behind his back.
"You’re cautious."
"That’s good."
"Caution keeps people alive."
Professor Ellis coughed again.
This time his voice was clearer.
"Noah..."
"I’m here!"
Noah called back instinctively.
"I’m coming!"
He looked at me.
"I’m going in."
I nodded immediately.
"We stay together."
Lucien didn’t object.
He simply watched as we walked past him.
As I drew level with him, he spoke quietly enough that only I could hear.
"The System told you to retreat."
I froze.
He smiled without looking at me.
"And yet..."
"...you didn’t."
My heartbeat thundered in my ears.
How did he—
Noah called my name from several steps ahead.
"Adrian."
I forced myself to move.
The warehouse swallowed us.
The beam from Noah’s flashlight swept across rows of abandoned machinery covered in dust.
Rusted chains hung from the ceiling.
Broken pallets lay scattered across the floor.
The place smelled of oil, damp wood, and mold.
"Professor!"
Noah shouted.
"This way..."
The reply came from deeper inside.
We followed the voice until the flashlight illuminated a narrow maintenance pit.
Professor Ellis was sitting against a concrete support column.
His hands weren’t tied.
Neither were his feet.
His glasses lay broken beside him.
A cut above his temple had dried into a thin line of blood.
"Professor!"
Noah hurried over.
"Don’t move too quickly."
Professor Ellis winced as he tried to stand.
"I think..."
"...I twisted my ankle."
Noah knelt beside him.
"Were you attacked?"
Professor Ellis looked toward the warehouse entrance.
His eyes widened.
"He’s still here?"
"You know him?"
Professor Ellis slowly nodded.
"I met him."
"He asked me questions."
"What questions?"
"The Pocket Watch murders."
My pulse quickened.
Professor Ellis swallowed hard.
"He knew details that were never published."
"What kind of details?"
"The missing evidence."
"The cracked watches."
"The victims."
"He knew everything."
Noah helped him sit more comfortably.
"Did he threaten you?"
Professor Ellis hesitated.
"...No."
That single word caught both of us off guard.
"No?"
"He never touched me."
Professor Ellis looked genuinely confused.
"I followed him here because..."
He rubbed his forehead.
"...because he said he could prove my theory."
"What happened then?"
"I..."
His expression clouded.
"I don’t remember."
"You don’t remember coming here?"
"I remember entering."
"I remember talking."
"And then..."
He looked around the warehouse as though seeing it for the first time.
"...nothing."
His memory simply stopped.
A calm voice drifted in from the entrance.
"Selective memory loss."
Lucien.
He hadn’t entered.
He remained standing exactly where we’d left him.
Professor Ellis immediately stiffened.
"Stay away."
Lucien sighed quietly.
"I’ve already done so."
Noah rose to his feet.
"Enough."
"Who are you?"
Lucien met his gaze.
"A question with many answers."
"I’m not interested in riddles."
"I know."
"Then give me a real name."
Lucien considered it for several seconds.
Finally, he answered.
"My name is Lucien."
"It has been for a very long time."
Noah’s expression didn’t change.
"That’s not enough."
"It rarely is."
The distant wail of sirens cut through the night.
Faint.
But unmistakable.
The police.
Lucien turned his head slightly, listening.
"They’re early."
Noah stepped between Lucien and Professor Ellis.
"You should stay."
"I don’t think that would accomplish much."
"If you’ve done nothing wrong—"
"I’ve done many things wrong."
Lucien interrupted gently.
"But not the one you’re imagining."
Another siren joined the first.
Closer now.
Blue and red lights flickered briefly against the broken warehouse windows.
Lucien looked at me one last time.
"We’ll continue this conversation another night."
"No."
The word escaped my mouth before I could stop it.
"You know about the System."
"You know about me."
"You know about the murders."
"What are you?"
For the first time since meeting him...
Lucien’s smile disappeared completely.
"What I am..."
He looked upward toward the darkness above the warehouse.
"...depends on who’s telling the story."
A violent shudder ran through the air.
Not through the ground.
Through the air itself.
The blue System windows burst into existence across my vision.
______
[Emergency Warning]
Observer Authority Detected.
Narrative Stability Falling.
Recalculating...
Recalculating...
______
The warehouse lights—
Lights that hadn’t worked in years—
suddenly flickered to life.
One after another.
A harsh white glow flooded the building.
Professor Ellis gasped.
Noah instinctively shielded his eyes.
I looked toward the entrance.
Lucien was gone.
There had been no flash.
No cloud of smoke.
No dramatic escape.
He was simply...
No longer there.
The only thing left where he had been standing was an old silver pocket watch.
Its cracked glass reflected the warehouse lights.
Its hands were frozen at exactly—
11:17.
The System spoke again.
______
[Main Story Updated]
Chapter One Complete.
The Pocket Watch Murders
Investigation Phase: Beginning.
New Objective:
Find the owner of the watch before it disappears.
Time Remaining:
00:09:58
Failure Condition:
Evidence Lost.
______
I stared at the countdown.
Nine minutes.
Whatever game had just begun...
Lucien had made sure we were finally playing it.