The light did not fade.
It thickened.
It pressed down on the chamber like a sky that had fallen too low to breathe under.
Sebastian felt the change in the bond before he understood what it meant.
Not danger.
Not attack.
Something heavier.
Judgment watching itself.
Vivian rested weakly against him, but her eyes were open now. She was not afraid. She was searching — as if she could feel the chamber thinking.
The floor beneath them cracked open and sealed again in uneven rhythms. The symbols on the walls no longer followed pattern or command. They flickered like thoughts arguing with themselves.
"The system is destabilizing," the Council voices said.
But their voices were no longer calm.
They sounded uncertain.
That alone was wrong.
The air above the chamber opened, and the Emergency Council appeared — seven figures shaped from authority older than memory.
They did not descend with force.
They settled like weight.
They did not bring power.
