Silas moved to the table and placed one hand on the nearest ledger.
"Ask," he said.
Ren stepped forward first. "Who built the covenant?"
Silas replied, "A group of ward-smiths, physicians, and one bloodline historian."
Pax's eyes sharpened. "That sounds suspiciously like a committee designed to avoid accountability."
"It was."
Fang looked down at one of the diagrams. It showed a circular structure with multiple channels feeding into a central core. The lines were annotated with old notes about alignment, pressure, and restraint.
He frowned. "This is not just a prison. It is a circulation system."
Silas nodded. "The covenant was built to do two things at once. Contain the answer, and keep it alive."
Ren's gaze fixed on him. "Answer to what, exactly?"
Silas was silent for a moment, then said, "To the first outbreak."
The words dropped into the room like stones.
Pax's expression darkened. "Outbreak of what?"
