They didn’t speak for a while.
No one rushed to fill the silence.
Because what had just happened didn’t fit into anything they understood.
Not the system.
Not the presence.
Not even the rules they had been breaking.
They stood at the edge of it where structure ended.
And something else began.
Lucian was the first to move.
“We’re going back.”
It wasn’t a question.
Aria nodded.
“…Yeah.”
Rune exhaled.
“Good. Because I don’t want to meet that thing’s friends out here.”
They turned.
Crossing back toward the boundary toward the place where the system still existed.
Still held.
Still responded.
Aria felt it before they reached it.
A faint pull.
Not forceful.
Not controlling.
Familiar.
“…It’s still there,” she said quietly.
Lucian glanced at her.
“The system?”
“Yes.”
A
