The void was never empty.
It only waited.
Kael stood beneath a sky that had no stars, only fractures of unseen light pressing against reality. Every breath felt borrowed, as though the world itself judged whether he deserved to draw another.
The System flickered.
> [Data Fragment Recovered.]
[Designation: Forgotten Silence.]
The words bled into his mind, but with them came no explanation. Only weight. Only the sense that something vast had been listening all this time.
Kael touched his chest. The heartbeat he heard was not his own.
Somewhere beyond the veil, a watcher whispered.
"You vanished… but you were never gone. The silence was your trial. The silence was your oath."
The message ended.
The void deepened.
And Kael realized: silence was no longer his ally. It was his executioner.
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