The anomaly did not speak.
It approached.
Not through space—
but through permission.
Rourke felt it as a loosening behind his eyes, a pressure easing rather than intensifying. Gravity Sight blurred, then sharpened again around a new absence.
Seren stepped in front of him instinctively.
"Hey—
whatever you are, slow down."
The anomaly paused.
Not in space.
In intention.
The Memory Core pulsed urgently.
"It is responding to conscious boundaries."
Rourke swallowed.
"So it's not invading."
"No," the relic replied.
"It is requesting alignment."
First Contact
Rourke raised one hand—
not to reach,
but to show openness.
"I won't force you," he said quietly.
"And I won't let you take me."
The anomaly shifted.
Its outline became clearer—
a humanoid silhouette threaded with non-light, like negative space woven into form.
Seren shivered.
"It's like looking at a shadow that refuses to behave."
The anomaly pulsed once.
Rourke felt meaning rather than words.
Not shadow.
Not absence.
Interval.
He gasped.
"You can… think?"
The Memory Core flared.
"Direct conceptual transmission detected."
Seren whispered,
"That's a yes."
What the Living Anchor Is
Images flooded Rourke's mind.
A species that existed between forces—
not bound by gravity,
not free of it—
Balanced against it.
They were not removed from reality.
They were unmeasured by it.
Intervals, they called themselves.
Not beings.
Processes.
Survivors of collapsed laws.
Rourke staggered slightly.
"You're not a tool."
Correct.
Seren exhaled shakily.
"Thank goodness."
The anomaly—
the Interval—
continued.
You carry fracture.
We carry distance.
Together—stability is possible.
The Memory Core dimmed.
"This is the second anchor."
The Price of Bonding
Rourke clenched his jaw.
"What's the cost?"
The Interval did not hesitate.
Loss of exclusivity.
Seren frowned.
"…Translate?"
The Interval clarified.
Your choices will no longer be singular.
Every action will echo through me.
Every restraint will anchor us both.
Rourke felt the weight of it.
"So if I lose control—"
We fracture together.
Seren swallowed hard.
"That's not comforting either."
The Interval pulsed gently.
But you do not lose yourself.
You are not overwritten.
Rourke closed his eyes briefly.
That mattered more than anything.
Consent
The Memory Core hovered close.
"Bond initiation requires explicit consent—
from both entities."
Rourke nodded.
"I consent," he said quietly.
"But only under one condition."
The Interval waited.
"I choose when we act.
Not power.
Not inevitability.
Choice."
Silence stretched.
Then—
Agreed.
The Interval reached out—
Not physically.
Conceptually.
Rourke felt something settle into place behind his Heart.
Not merging.
Balancing.
The crown above his head flared once—
then stabilized, fractures sealing into a new pattern.
The pain vanished.
Not dulled.
Gone.
Seren gasped.
"Rourke—
your readings just flattened."
The Memory Core glowed steadily.
"Synchronization halted."
Rourke opened his eyes.
The world looked… quieter.
The First Test
Rourke lifted a hand and formed Null Gravity again.
Smaller than before.
Contained.
The void did not scream.
It behaved.
Seren stared.
"You're holding it."
Rourke nodded slowly.
"And it's not fighting me."
The Interval's presence steadied the absence.
Null Gravity did not expand.
It remained.
Controlled.
Prime's greatest fear—
made real.
A Reaction Beyond the Realm
Far away—
Within the Obsidian Engine—
Hunter Prime stiffened.
Data streams fractured.
"…This is not permitted."
The Collapse Array stuttered.
Prime recalculated—
And failed.
For the first time.
Aftermath
Seren approached Rourke carefully.
"How do you feel?"
He searched himself.
"Whole," he said.
"Not stronger.
Just… aligned."
The Interval pulsed quietly within him.
Anchor established.
The Memory Core dimmed with something like relief.
"You have achieved what the Solarii could not."
Seren smiled faintly.
"Great.
No pressure."
Rourke looked up at the fractured sky.
Five days remained.
But for the first time—
The inevitability had cracked.
He clenched his fist gently.
"Now," he said,
"let's see what Prime does
when gravity stops listening."