Elias had always felt the world was too structured, too rigid—until the night he stumbled upon the Door. It had appeared in the alley beside his apartment, standing alone, unattached to any wall. Its surface shimmered like liquid silver, pulsing with an unseen heartbeat. There was no handle, no keyhole, yet it beckoned him forward with a whisper in the back of his mind: Come and see. Curiosity outweighed