The transition from the triumphant, amber-lit victory over the Sovereign-Probe to the sudden, light-swallowing dread of the "Great-Beyond" was a psychological amputation. As the *Hesperus* hovered over the fractured skyline of Jerusalem, the **smell of the Roman rain** was a distant, dry husk of a memory, instantly replaced by the scent of "Empty-Space" , a terrifying, non-smell that felt like the back of one’s own throat after a scream. This wasn't the cold of the First Ones or the heat of the Architect-Prime; it was the "Absolute-Null" of the Void-Eaters, a force that didn't just conquer matter, it "Un-Existed" it.
Lila stood at the prow of the airship, her eyes fixed on the constellation of Orion. It wasn't just fading; it was being *erased*, as if a cosmic ink had been spilled across
