-Caspian Grayson:
The transition from the living area into the ceremonial hall didn't feel like walking through a house anymore.
It felt like being pulled deeper into something older than the house itself.
We had all been standing in the main living space only moments before—what should have been a familiar place, a place meant for gathering, for conversation, for normal life. But nothing about it had felt normal since the moment we stepped back inside. The air there had been too tight, too silent, like even the walls were listening.
And then the elder moved.
He didn't announce anything. He didn't explain anything.
He simply turned and began walking.
And that was enough.
Everyone followed.
Not because they were told to, but because it felt impossible not to. Like the direction had already been decided long before any of us arrived at it.
