The connection did not weaken. Instead, it became smoother, deeper, as if whatever had emerged now still carried a part of them within it.
Sophia stood in a silence that was no longer empty, feeling two different directions at once.
One remained inside the consciousness that had merged. The other reached toward something that lay beyond.
She took a slow breath.
"He is getting closer," she said softly.
Beside her, Adrian Blackwood watched without blinking. "With another consciousness."
Daniel tried to read the flow, even though he knew this was not something that could be fully analyzed.
"His movement is not random," he said. "Like… being drawn."
Leonard Graves spoke in a low tone. "Or mutually attracted."
Silence fell.
But this time.
It held a different tension.
Not because of threat.
But because of possibility.
Sophia closed her eyes.
She followed the connection.
Feeling the distance growing thinner.
And within it.
She felt something else.
Not just presence.
