For several seconds, nobody moved.
The voice from beneath the web had spoken only two sentences, yet the entire clearing seemed to have forgotten how to exist. The white tree hung between moments, its bare branches suspended beneath a sky that no longer knew whether it should be open or broken.
Then the World moved.
Its crown of interlocking rings rotated once, and the empty space beneath the web slammed shut.
The voice disappeared.
"No!" the guardian cried.
He struck the ground with his palm. The bells on his wrists rang together, releasing a wave of pale light that spread through the clearing. The broken threads beneath the tree stopped trembling, but the light could not mend them.
The World's enormous shadow turned toward him.
"YOU HAVE ALLOWED AN UNAUTHORIZED MEMORY TO SURFACE."
The guardian lowered his head.
"I have guarded your boundaries for ages."
"YOU HAVE FAILED."
