EPISODE 4: THE LIVING ## PART ONE: THE WINDOW ### CHAPTER 1: THE DISCOVERY Marcus discovered the window by accident. He'd been walking a section of the Corridor he'd never explored before—the endless halls had endless variations, and even a Watcher couldn't know them all. This particular stretch was older than most, the fluorescent lights dimmer, the doors spaced further apart. And then he saw it: a gap in the wall where no gap should be. Through the gap, he could see something that shouldn't exist in the Corridor: the living world. It was a hospital room. A woman lay in a bed, surrounded by machines and tubes. Beside her sat another woman—younger, perhaps her daughter—holding her hand and weeping. "Mom, please. Please don't leave me." Marcus watched, transfixed. He'd spent eons in the Corridor, had almost forgotten what the living world looked like. The colors were different—richer, warmer, filled with the chaos of life rather than the sterile sameness of the Corridor. The woman in the bed opened her eyes. For a moment, she seemed to look directly at Marcus, as if she could see him through the gap. Then she was gone. The hospital room vanished, replaced by a new soul standing in the Corridor, confused and frightened. The woman who had been dying was now dead,...