The world did not end when Valentine chose truth.
It resisted.
Across territories, across bloodlines, across centuries of enforced hierarchy, something old and vast pushed back against her awakening. Not with noise or fire, but with pressure. Systems tightening. Authority clenching. Ancient failsafes stirring as if from a long sleep.
Valentine felt it instantly.
Not as pain. As opposition.
The sanctuary trembled beneath her feet, its walls humming louder now, no longer confused but strained. The sigils no longer glowed softly. They burned, lines of silver carving deeper into stone as if the structure itself were struggling to contain what it had once been built to serve.
Eryx staggered backward, bracing himself against the chamber wall. “They are activating the outer protocols,” he s
