The royal seal disintegrated in a shimmer of pale gold as the last word faded from the page. Jay held the letter for a few moments longer, though it had already become blank— like the memory of a dream evaporating under daylight.
He did n't speak. Not yet.
Instead, he stared into the remnants of the flickering glyphs around the envelope, watching them glitch and burn out. His fingers tightened.
> "She knew everything."
Jay did not know if he meant Lysandra or Alicia. Probably both.
He turned away from the small chamber Echo had left him in— one of those half-real simulation rooms still clinging to some sense of structure. The window before him showed no sky. Just threads— threads of data, memory, and something older still —running like veins through the horizon.
This is not just about Null. It never was.
It is about what came before.
It is about what they sealed and why.
Jay closed his eyes, and the System responded.
