What greeted the Silent Listener was not a human's Sea of Consciousness.
There was no sky.
No ocean.
No mindscape.
Instead.
A vast, boundless void stretched endlessly in all directions.
At its center stood something.
It was not a form, nor a figure, nor even a presence that could be described by mortal logic.
Then—
Colossal eyes, vast as suns, ancient beyond reckoning, opened within the darkness.
They were neither kind nor cruel.
Neither merciful nor wrathful.
They did not burn with killing intent.
They did not rage.
They simply observed.
As one might observe an insect that had crawled into a place it was never meant to reach.
The Silent Listener's soul convulsed.
His lips trembled violently as fragmented recognition surfaced through sheer terror.
"W–w–why… i–is a–aa–a Celes—"
The word never finished.
His voice broke, repeating like a shattered record, unable to form complete thoughts under the sheer weight of that existence.
