It waited.
Not impatiently.
Not silently.
Existentially.
The presence remained before them, impossible to define, impossible to ignore.
But now—
It was no longer unknown.
It had spoken.
It had asked.
Complete me.
And those words still echoed in the space like a wound reality didn't know how to close.
No one moved.
Even Lyra—
Usually first to break tension—
Said nothing.
Because everyone understood.
This wasn't a trap they could simply avoid.
This wasn't an enemy they could defeat.
This was—
A choice.
Adrian stared into the formless anomaly.
It had no eyes.
No face.
No center.
Yet somehow—
It felt as though it stared back.
"…Why me?"
Adrian finally asked.
The answer came without sound.
Without thought.
Without language.
Yet all of them understood.
Because you crossed.
The space trembled.
Not in violence.
In revelation.
Kaelith's voice came low.
"…Crossed what?"
The anomaly responded.
The edge of definition.
Seraphine whispered,
