For a long moment, Selene only stood beneath the throne's silver glow and listened to the chamber breathe around her.
The voice from below had gone silent again, but the silence was not empty. It pressed against the walls, against the covenant lines burning beneath her feet, against the thin space between memory and identity where she now found herself suspended. The throne room core was no longer merely opening. It was waiting with terrible patience, as though the entire ancient structure had all but decided that whatever came next would be unavoidable.
The two glowing alignment circles on the floor pulsed steadily.
Kael stood beside her without speaking.
