The Forge was quiet for the first time in ten thousand years.
Not the empty kind of quiet. Not the dead kind either.
More like something that had finally stopped holding its breath.
Xin sat on the floor with his back against the Needle. The green pulse above him was steady now — slow, calm, almost like a heartbeat that had finally remembered how to regulate itself. The violent white pressure that had once filled the chamber was gone completely. What remained felt like the difference between a clenched fist and an open palm.
Beside him, Pip sat with her knees drawn up slightly, staring at nothing in particular. Neither of them spoke for a while. There was no urgency left demanding speech.
After a full minute, she finally broke the silence.
"How do you feel?"
Xin let the question sit
