"I am a House Divided," Malakai explained, his voice coming from all three states simultaneously in harmony that should have been cacophonous but instead created resonance that made the void itself vibrate.
"The voice in your head that whispers notifications and tracks your progress. The guardian of the gate who decides who passes and who fails. And the man standing before you, having this conversation in space that exists outside normal dimensional boundaries."
The flickering stopped, resolving back into the translucent human form with silver veins pulsing across visible features. But Jack's understanding had shifted.
Whatever stood before him wasn't simply a powerful entity or a dungeon guardian. It was a fundamental part of the framework that governed his existence in Elysium.
The System itself, given form and awareness.
