The medallion moved on its own.
No hand had reached for it, no command had been issued, and yet it shot free from Almond's spatial storage with a sudden, decisive force, as though something buried deep within it had finally remembered its purpose. It tore through the still air of the hall in a streak of molten gold, cutting across the dimness like a comet that had been waiting an eternity to fall.
The Tier-100 artifact, which had hovered in silence until that moment, reacted the instant the medallion drew near. Its rotating rings accelerated into a furious spin, the hum rising from a low vibration to something that resonated in the chest. The inscriptions carved across the ancient walls ignited once more, but unlike before, there was no violence in their light. They pulsed steadily, rhythmically, like a heartbeat recognizing itself after a long sleep.
And then the artifact revealed what it had always been.
