Sebastian.
Darkness returned.
But this time… it was not empty.
It was aware.
There was still no shape. No walls. No sky. No ground. Yet something inside the space had changed. It was not pressing on me. It was not trapping me.
It was watching me.
I did not feel like I stood inside the void.
I felt like the void was studying me.
Before me, the fractured Veil sigil floated in silence. The crack running through it glowed faintly, like light trapped behind glass. The light did not escape. It gathered. It waited. It felt patient… as if time did not matter to it.
Earlier, I had sensed a presence inside the trial.
This was not that presence.
This one was older.
Quieter.
Deeper.
It did not oppose the trial.
It did not control the trial.
It did not interfere.
It observed.
Everything.
Including me.
