It did not begin with light, it began with breath. Or something close to it.
The hum of being drawn in, not to mention—but to exist. To permit itself to be heard within the silence that followed.
Kaito was alone now.
Not because the rest of them had left him—Kael moved to a Threadloop in the shape of an old observatory; Mika vanished down an aisle that resembled a draft folder; Yue hovered at the mouth of her own corridor, eyes closed, waiting for something only she could name. Nyra lingered nearby—but she didn't speak, and he didn't need her to.
The garden quieted. Not sleeping. Listening.
The scraps of memorylight swirled more slowly now, around nothing but empty air over the lost table.
The middle was no longer a table. It had become… nothing. Just open space. Not empty in a dead way, but cleared, like something had been gently moved aside to make room.
