The vision cracked.
Lucien gasped awake.
The Origin Core Shrine returned around him all at once.
For several breaths, Lucien did not understand where he was.
Then sensation returned.
His hands were gripping the shrine floor hard enough to leave marks in the stone. His body was drenched in sweat. His breathing came rough and uneven as though he had just been dragged out of an ocean deeper than reality itself.
Then Lucien laughed once.
It came out rough and humorless.
"Of course," he whispered. "Of course it gets worse."
Lucien lowered his head and shut his eyes.
His thoughts would not settle.
He did not know how long he remained there.
He did not even remember walking back to his room.
One moment he was in the shrine.
The next, he stood inside his private chamber.
He looked pale.
That annoyed him for some reason.
Then another memory surfaced.
The Primordial Slime.
Long ago, it had told him that there was a reason the Primordial Entities wanted the Origin Core.
