The stair opens onto a vast subterranean chamber. Silver channels pulse through black stone like veins, carrying pale light beneath their feet.
Far above, a suspended seal displays the covenant in fractured layers. Its silver geometry is weakened, yet stable, while Mara and Vetta remain behind with the upper records.
Nhal accompanies Slaan into the chamber, but an empty aperture awakens across the floor. Violet shadow streams from Nhal toward its hollow center.
Nhal
It is not taking me yet. It is measuring the shape of what I might become inside it.
The chamber answers with a low, resonant chord. Silver script gathers above the aperture, naming Slaan as the authorized witness and tracing a path toward the sealed engine.
More words appear beneath it: Access requires a living anchor. The chosen anchor will bear the engine’s burden until the covenant is restored or the witness withdraws consent.
Nhal
It wants one of us to become its temporary foundation. If I enter that circle, I may hold it steady, but the choice must be freely made.
Keep Nhal free from becoming the engine’s living anchor