For a long time, the Triad believed its greatest mistakes came from exceptional individuals.
Arrogant gods.
Absolute entities.
Architects who confused reach with right.
The Second Great Cycle revealed something more dangerous.
Mistakes made by consensus.
The first major alliance arose from necessity, not vision.
In a vast region where the Dimensional, Natural, and Rational Paths overlapped, multiple communities began experiencing side effects of the Rule of Scales. Not attacks. Not direct punishment. But cross-stagnation: no one could advance without colliding with another's limits.
Cities could not grow without affecting ecosystems.
Ecosystems could not expand without distorting dimensional territories.
Rational structures lost predictability in environments too alive.
Separated, all failed.
Together, perhaps not.
Thus emerged the Local Coherence Pact.
It was not imposed by higher entities.
It was not blessed by divinities.
It was signed by representatives close enough in scale for the Rule to permit genuine dialogue.
Its goal was simple: to decide how to grow together.
At first, it worked better than anyone expected.
Decisions considered multiple impacts simultaneously. Growth slowed, but stabilized. Conflicts were resolved before escalation. The region became a quiet example of successful adaptation.
Eternavir observed with cautious optimism.
Until the inevitable question arose.
— What if we apply this at large scale?
The idea seemed logical.
If local alliances worked, why not create larger collective structures, capable of negotiating with the Rule of Scales as a more stable block?
The problem was not intent.
It was abstraction.
As the pact expanded, layers of representation emerged: councils speaking for entire regions, protocols replacing specific contexts, decisions affecting beings who never participated.
The Rule of Scales did not stop it.
It waited.
The first sign of failure was not violent.
It was silent.
Peripheral communities began losing small autonomies. Not through explicit oppression, but through excessive standardization. Solutions designed "for the greater good" did not fit local contexts — yet were applied anyway.
Nothing collapsed.
But something began to unravel.
Ilyr sensed it almost immediately.
Symbiotic zones of the living plain began receiving external directives about "ideal" balance. Certain organisms, once essential for local resilience, were deemed inefficient by broader regional metrics.
They were not destroyed.
They were deprioritized.
Diversity declined.
Ilyr attempted to warn the pact's mediators, but encountered a new phenomenon: the broader the decision, the smaller the weight of any individual voice.
The Rule of Scales allowed the pact.
It did not guarantee its wisdom.
Kael actively participated in the expansion.
He genuinely believed larger systems required more general models. By helping structure common protocols, he reduced immediate conflict — but introduced a dangerous side effect: decision inertia.
When errors emerged, correcting them required expanded consensus.
And consensus takes time.
Meanwhile, problems grew.
Sereth refused full integration.
After losing part of her identity, she distrusted any structure that diluted individual will for collective order. Still, she observed closely.
And she was the first to realize what was truly happening.
The pact was not violating the Rule of Scales.
It was creating a new asymmetry.
Not between strong and weak.
But between deciders and those affected.
The irreversible consequence came indirectly.
In a distant region, an entire ecosystem collapsed not due to attack, but over-optimization. Redundant functions were eliminated. "Inefficient" species vanished. The system became elegant, predictable…
And fragile.
When an unexpected energy fluctuation occurred, there was no diversity left to absorb the shock.
The collapse was total.
Nothing there could be restored to its former state.
The Triad did not intervene.
Eternavir did not correct.
The Second Great Cycle had produced its first permanent loss.
The news spread quickly.
Not as panic.
But as delayed understanding.
The Rule of Scales did not protect against bad decisions made in good faith. It merely ensured that the cost would be proportional to the scope of the decision.
The larger the collective that decides, the greater the potential damage of error.
The Local Coherence Pact was not dismantled.
But it was contained.
And a new question began to circulate — more dangerous than the last:
— If neither absolute individuals nor broad collectives are safe… then who should decide?
The Second Great Cycle moved forward.
And now, there were no simple answers.