The silence after the fifth trial felt fundamentally different from everything that had come before it.
Not empty.
Not oppressive.
Complete.
The five pillars stood dark throughout the chamber now, their lights extinguished like stars at the end of a dying age, and for the first time since entering the Temple, I realized the humming presence saturating the air had vanished entirely. The pressure pressing against my thoughts was gone. The sensation of being observed had faded.
The Temple was no longer testing me.
It was watching.
Carefully.
Cautiously.
Almost warily.
