The ritual chamber beneath Artemis Tower looked less like a sacred space and more like an abandoned medical facility absorbed slowly into institutional architecture over several decades. Reinforced concrete walls curved inward beneath recessed lighting while preservation glass divided sections of the room into narrow containment bays lined with old recording equipment and sealed storage cabinets.
Long metal counters stretched along one side beneath neatly arranged trays of instruments wrapped in sterile cloth. Brass fixtures remained embedded between newer biometric panels, creating the uncomfortable impression that every generation of archivists had simply layered fresh systems over older rituals instead of replacing them.
The room smelled faintly of antiseptic, heated metal, and old paper.
