They did not give the wound time to recover its certainty.
While the black-glass lattice still rang with the new spiral c***k, Lira, Coren, and Ysara moved to the central suspension. Sera organized the others into a continuous perimeter of spoken fact and physical motion—an anchor of living sequence against the pull of replacement. Tallen recited every binding phrase he knew, then invented new ones when the old ones began to lose meaning. Nima mapped the cracks as they spread. Cal and Sela took turns reading the core refusals in overlapping voices so that no single silence could take hold.
The original wound spoke without language. It showed them versions of themselves already replaced: smooth, finished, free of scars and questions and the long road. The replaced-Lira carried no lens and
