Nashi followed evidence connected to Tamiyo through a door that appeared where no stable passage should have existed. The doorway vanished after he crossed, leaving recordings and a trace sensed more as threat than route. Three months passed before the people who cared for him understood the full absence.
Kaito and the Wanderer had both kept their distance because they believed Nashi blamed them for Tamiyo’s death. Their guilt turned avoidance into respect for grief, until the disappearance exposed the cost of that assumption. Giving someone space had become failing to notice he was gone.
They assembled companions suited to an unknown plane: Zimone’s analytical magic, Tyvar’s physical adaptability and Niko’s disciplined use of mirror shards joined Kaito and the Wanderer. The team entered knowing extraction mattered more than understanding, but Duskmourn would not allow those goals to remain separate.