Pain.
Not sharp.
Not sudden.
But constant.
Like something inside Cassian had woken up
And refused to sleep again.
He stood exactly where he had been.
But everything felt different.
Wrong.
The void hadn't changed.
The fragments still hovered.
The presence still watched.
And yet
Cassian couldn't ignore it anymore.
That thing inside him.
It wasn't just there.
It was moving.
Breathing.
Thinking.
"…get out," he muttered under his breath.
No response.
But the sensation deepened.
Like something smiling.
Cassian clenched his jaw, forcing himself to focus.
"You said I'm becoming it," he called out, his voice steady despite the pressure building in his chest.
The hollow figure stood before him, silent as ever.
Watching.
Waiting.
Cassian's eyes darkened.
"Then explain something to me."
He took a slow step forward.
"If I become it…"
Another step.
"What happens to you?"
The fragments around them pulsed.
The presence reacted.
Subtle.
But there.
Integration.
