The resonance chamber did not return to calm.
It held its breath.
The handshake corridor still glowed across the projection wall, a thin silver thread stretching from Earth's root signature into layered darkness. The distributed lattice entity had withdrawn most of its visible structure, yet a steady harmonic tone continued pulsing along the corridor, soft and deliberate.
Sarya remained standing at the center of the chamber.
The hybrid scar beneath her collarbone radiated a faint warmth that had nothing to do with heat. It felt like pressure from within, as though something was pushing outward against a door that had not existed before.
Kael leaned against the outer railing and watched the corridor with narrowed eyes.
"You said something else awakened," he said quietly.
Sarya did not look at him immediately.
"I felt it," she answered. "A resonance that was not aligned with either side."
