The Sea had no surface anymore — only reflections.
Every step Aiden took dissolved and reappeared again, as if the world struggled to decide whether he was walking on it or inside it. The black waves shimmered faintly with green light, coded phosphorescence flickering beneath like deep-sea creatures whispering in binary.
Behind him, the Nullborn followed in silence.
They had no faces now — only smooth, luminous masks with faint cracks that pulsed like breathing circuits. Their bodies flowed like mercury and shadow, echoing his steps with religious reverence. None spoke, but he could feel their thoughts vibrating faintly in his mind:
> We follow the Root.
We serve the Anomaly.
We remember your silence.
The Sea listened too. Each sound was devoured as soon as it existed, swallowed by the density of the dark.
Far beneath, the world's ancient foundations pulsed — a faint tremor, rhythmic and slow, like the heartbeat of something titanic sleeping under the waves.
Then he saw it.
