They found Bishop standing still.
Too still.
Jessara immediately stepped forward. "What happened?"
Bishop didn't answer right away.
His eyes weren't focused on them.
They were focused on something behind perception.
"…It's not following anymore," he said finally.
Lucien frowned. "What is it doing then?"
Bishop looked at Tia.
"…It recognized me."
Tia felt her grip tighten instinctively on the fragment.
Because she understood what he meant.
The fragment pulsed.
And for the first time—
it connected.
Not like a link.
Like a line being drawn between them.
Tia, Bishop, and something unseen.
𐌊𐌄𐌍
The symbol appeared again.
Not in air.
In awareness.
Mirelle stepped back. "I don't like this."
Jessara ignored her. "It's expanding."
Luneth corrected softly.
"…It's aligning."
Lucien narrowed his eyes. "Aligning with what?"
Tia answered without thinking.
"…With us."
And that was the moment everything shifted.
Not into a system.
Not into structure.
But into something far more unsettling:
recognition.