Lucien now had a direction.
Deadman had not given him the full answer, but he had given him a door.
That was enough.
So Lucien locked himself inside the Origin Core Shrine again.
The shrine became silent around him.
This time, Lucien did not stand before the map as a ruler reading movements across five continents.
He stood before the merged Origin Core fragment as a student. The almost half-sphere floated in the center of the shrine.
Lucien stared at it for a long time.
He owned it. Technically.
It recognized him and allowed him to use authority that most beings in the universe could not even approach.
But Lucien had never fooled himself.
The Origin Core was not truly his.
Not in the way a sword could belong to a swordsman.
The Origin Core was older than possession.
It was proof. A witness to the universe being born.
Lucien could borrow its authority.
But to say it belonged to him completely felt wrong.
The Origin Core belonged to the universe first.
