Nobody moved.
⸻ “…She’s waking up.” ⸻ The words echoed through the underground chamber.
⸻ Nobody liked them.
⸻ At all.
⸻ Thomas slowly raised his hand.
⸻ “I have several questions.” ⸻ Selene regarded him calmly.
⸻ “You may ask one.” ⸻ Thomas blinked.
⸻ “One?” ⸻ “One.” ⸻ “…I suddenly forgot all of them.” ⸻ “I understand.” Selene said.
⸻ Somehow.
⸻ That wasn’t reassuring.
⸻ The Presence Then— something changed.
⸻ The air shifted.
⸻ No.
⸻ Not shifted.
⸻ It felt as though something impossibly vast had turned in their direction from an unimaginable distance, and the world was only now noticing.
⸻ The temperature did not change.
⸻ The pressure did.
⸻ A slow, impossible heaviness settled over the room, not crushing, merely present, as though the atmosphere itself had become aware of something greater than it.
⸻ The faint crackle of the torches seemed to dim.
⸻ Even the echoes disappeared.
⸻ The stone walls felt expectant.
⸻ Morgan felt it first.
⸻ Her breathing hitched.
⸻ Jakel frowned.
⸻ Lancelot’s hand tightened around his sword until his knuckles whitened.
⸻ Eidra slowly stood.
⸻ Inside Aethelion.
⸻ Leona had gone completely silent.
⸻ Arthur looked upward.
⸻ “Leona?” ⸻ No answer.
⸻ “Leona.” ⸻ A long pause.
⸻ Then: ⸻ “…Something is looking this way.” ⸻ Silence.
⸻ Arthur blinked.
⸻ “What?” ⸻ “I don’t know how else to explain it.” ⸻ Her voice sounded strained.
⸻ “Something unimaginably far away just became aware of us.” ⸻ Nobody liked that sentence either.
⸻ Selene Watches Selene went still.
⸻ Completely still.
⸻ Like someone listening for a distant sound only she could hear.
⸻ Her pink-crimson eyes fixed on nothing visible.
⸻ “There it is.” ⸻ Arthur looked at her.
⸻ “What is?” ⸻ She looked toward the ceiling.
⸻ “The threshold.” ⸻ “What threshold?” ⸻ She looked back at him.
⸻ “The point after which nothing remains the same.” ⸻ Silence.
⸻ Thomas looked exhausted.
⸻ “We have known her for ten minutes.” ⸻ “Approximately.” Selene agreed.
⸻ “And I already want her to leave.” ⸻ “That is a common reaction.” ⸻ The Name Lancelot stepped forward.
⸻ “Who is your Lady?” ⸻ Silence.
⸻ Selene looked at him.
⸻ “No.” ⸻ “What?” ⸻ “I will not tell you.” ⸻ “Why?” ⸻ She considered.
⸻ Then: ⸻ “My Lady exists beyond kingdoms, gods, and the things you call ancient.” ⸻ Silence.
⸻ “She sleeps, and ages pass.
She wakes, and worlds change around her.” ⸻ Another pause.
⸻ “Names are not introductions.” ⸻ Silence.
⸻ “They are invitations.” ⸻ Another pause.
⸻ “And she does not welcome strangers.” ⸻ Thomas blinked.
⸻ “…That’s somehow terrifying.” ⸻ “It should be.” Selene said.
⸻ Eidra’s Unease Eidra had not spoken.
⸻ Not once.
⸻ Arthur noticed.
⸻ “Eidra?” ⸻ She looked at him.
⸻ Her expression remained calm.
⸻ Almost.
⸻ “Are you okay?” ⸻ Silence.
⸻ Then: ⸻ “…No.” ⸻ Everyone looked at her.
⸻ Because that answer had never happened before.
⸻ Not once.
⸻ Arthur blinked.
⸻ “What do you mean?” ⸻ Eidra looked toward the darkness.
⸻ Then toward the place where the rift had appeared.
⸻ “I don’t recognize this feeling.” ⸻ Silence.
⸻ That was bad.
⸻ Very bad.
⸻ Because Eidra recognized almost everything.
⸻ “I should.” ⸻ Another pause.
⸻ “But I don’t.” ⸻ For the first time since entering the chamber— she looked uncertain.
⸻ Attention Then.
⸻ The torches flickered.
⸻ Once.
⸻ Twice.
⸻ Three times.
⸻ The air quivered.
⸻ Not violently.
⸻ Gently.
⸻ As though something unimaginably distant had exhaled.
⸻ A pressure settled over Arthur’s skin.
⸻ Not heavy.
⸻ Not painful.
⸻ Simply undeniable.
⸻ A presence.
⸻ Ancient.
⸻ Vast.
⸻ Impossible to describe.
⸻ It carried no anger.
⸻ No hostility.
⸻ No kindness.
⸻ No intent at all.
⸻ That was the worst part.
⸻ Every instinct in his body screamed at the scale of it, and the presence did not seem to notice he existed.
⸻ He felt smaller than he ever had before.
⸻ Like standing beneath an endless night sky and realizing the stars were not lights but eyes, and that if one of them happened to glance down, it would never remember him.
⸻ His breath caught.
⸻ The chamber had become impossibly quiet.
⸻ Then.
⸻ He heard it.
⸻ A voice.
⸻ Soft.
⸻ Distant.
⸻ As though it had crossed an impossible gulf.
⸻ “…A child?” ⸻ Arthur froze.
⸻ Silence.
⸻ Nobody else reacted.
⸻ He blinked.
⸻ Did he imagine that?
⸻ Then: ⸻ “…Interesting.” ⸻ The voice sounded… ⸻ Confused.
⸻ Curious.
⸻ And suddenly the pressure changed.
⸻ The indifference remained.
⸻ But now it had direction.
⸻ For one impossible moment, he had the horrifying sensation of being noticed by something so vast that its curiosity felt no more personal than a star briefly shining on a grain of dust.
⸻ Then it disappeared.
⸻ The pressure receded.
⸻ The torches steadied.
⸻ Sound returned.
⸻ Air rushed back into Arthur’s lungs.
⸻ Silence filled the chamber.
⸻ Selene stared into the empty air.
⸻ For the first time, she seemed caught off guard.
⸻ “…Well.” ⸻ Nobody spoke.
⸻ Then: ⸻ “I did not anticipate that.” ⸻ Arthur looked at her.
⸻ “What just happened?” ⸻ Selene met his gaze.
⸻ “…She noticed you.” ⸻ Silence.
⸻ “Who noticed me?” ⸻ A pause.
⸻ “My Lady.” ⸻ Nobody liked that answer.
⸻ Especially Arthur.
⸻ Departure Then.
⸻ Space rippled.
⸻ Another crack appeared.
⸻ The air around it bent inward.
⸻ Sound dulled again.
⸻ A faint pressure leaked from the distortion, carrying the lingering memory of that impossible presence.
⸻ Selene stepped backward.
⸻ “I should leave.” ⸻ “What?” Arthur said.
⸻ “She’s awake.” ⸻ “And?” ⸻ “And I have served her for longer than your histories exist.
If she has awakened and taken an interest in something, I must be at her side.” ⸻ Silence.
⸻ “Can she do that?” Thomas asked.
⸻ Selene looked at him as though the question itself were strange.
⸻ “She can decide whether empires continue, whether doors remain closed, whether things sleeping in the dark stay asleep.” ⸻ That somehow explained even less and made everything worse.
⸻ She looked toward Arthur one last time.
⸻ Her expression shifted by a fraction.
⸻ “You are an anomaly.” ⸻ Arthur frowned.
⸻ “I don’t know if that’s a compliment anymore.” ⸻ “It isn’t.” ⸻ “Oh.” ⸻ She turned and stepped into the distortion.
⸻ Before disappearing— she paused.
⸻ And looked back.
⸻ “…Find the village quickly.” ⸻ Silence.
⸻ Lancelot blinked.
⸻ “You said you wouldn’t help us.” ⸻ “I won’t.” ⸻ “Then why say that?” ⸻ Selene was quiet for a moment.
⸻ “Because my departure leaves you without answers, and because if my Lady’s attention continues to move in this direction, this place will not remain untouched.” ⸻ Silence.
⸻ Then: ⸻ “The village may be the last place you reach before events overtake you.” ⸻ She vanished.
⸻ The rift folded shut.
⸻ The pressure finally disappeared.
⸻ The underground chamber became silent.
⸻ Nobody spoke.
⸻ Nobody moved.
⸻ Finally: ⸻ Thomas sat down.
⸻ “I miss when our biggest problem was monsters.” ⸻ Nobody disagreed.
End of Chapter 23