The first thing Lio noticed was silence.
Not the comforting quiet of an empty room, but a silence so profound it swallowed his thoughts before they could fully form. He opened his mouth, but even the sound of his own breath refused to exist.
The between-space had shifted.
Moments ago, he had been alone—adrift in a prison woven of indecision, trapped between choice and consequence. Now, there was a weight pressing against his mind, something ancient and patient, studying him from angles that no human perception should endure.
Seventeen minutes to save consensus reality…
The echo of Lyralei's final words in the Consensus Room lingered in his skull, though he had never actually heard them. The bond between his hesitation and her intervention pulsed, and through that strange tether, her presence bled into his prison.
"Lio."
