The path to the Old Emperor's private sanctum was one few outside the direct imperial line ever walked. It was a passage protected by layers of ancient security and metaphysical arrays. As they proceeded, the security layers parted without challenge. The Law arrays, Vahn realized, recognized Celestine instantly as an extension of the imperial will. He felt them analyze him, not with suspicion or resistance, but with a nuanced, almost hesitant form of acceptance, the system acknowledging the new reality.
The sanctum itself was surprisingly smaller than the cavernous audience halls and thrones rooms. There was no grandeur here. No spectacle. Only history, distilled into its purest essence. The walls were etched with the names and achievements of past emperors, the figures of a thousand-year dynasty. Artifacts from fallen eras and records of wars survived and empires absorbed lined the inner chamber.
