Chapter Title: The Origin That Watches
The silence inside the Origin Layer was not empty.
It was listening.
Azrael felt it the moment his voice faded. The vast underground chamber did not echo like a normal space. Instead, the sound seemed to sink into the walls, absorbed by the glowing symbols etched into the towering pillars.
Each symbol pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat.
Slow.
Measured.
Watching.
Azrael stood still, Quinn held low at his side, his senses stretched to their limit. The void energy inside him had quieted, not out of submission, but out of awareness. It was no longer pushing outward. It was… observing.
“That is not unsettling at all,” Azrael muttered.
Quinn’s voice came quietly.
“This place predates the systems you understand. Even I cannot fully interpret it.”
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