Reality's anchor groaned.
The Pact could feel it. Their names, their voices, their truths—threatened to unravel as a pressure deeper than purpose began to fill the void.
"They're here," whispered Myne, standing beside Aiden, her sword trembling in its scabbard.
Aiden didn't answer immediately. His eyes—still blind—were filled with flame. Spirit-sense drew the shape of something impossible. Not many beings… but one mind fractured across infinite roles.
And it had a name that refused names.
The First of the Outer Gods.
The one that sang the silence before the first story.
The Author of Absence.
It did not arrive with thunder.
It did not roar or scream.
It removed.
The stars above them vanished.
The Pact's shadows faded.
Even sound began to fall away as if scooped out of the air.
Nexus groaned, clutching his head. "It's taking our definition."
Aiden grit his teeth. "No—it's replacing it."
He stepped forward.
