Third Person POV
The system did not surge into motion. It settled. That was the first thing all of them felt. Not silence. Not stillness. But a kind of balance. Like something had taken a deep breath and decided to move forward carefully. PROCESS ACTIVE The words remained on the screen longer this time. They did not flicker. They did not distort. They held.
Alaric kept his hand on the console, but he was not pressing anything. Not commanding. Not forcing. He was… present. And the system responded to that presence. Lily shifted slightly beside him. "So… what exactly did you start?" Alaric did not look at her. "Interaction," he said. "That is not an answer." "It is the only one that matters."
