The shift from balcony sunlight to the quiet shadow of my private office felt almost ceremonial.
Here—behind thick stone walls reinforced by system made foundations, and arbitrary security forces—was where the empire truly moved.
No crowds.
No ceremony.
Just maps, reports, and decisions that rippled outward until men bled and borders changed.
I sat behind a broad desk of dark wood, my fingers steepled beneath my chin.
Across from me, Serena sat with her legs crossed, a thin tablet of parchment resting on her knee—not because she needed it, but because old habits died hard.
Her eyes, however, weren't on the parchment.
They were on me.
Or more precisely… on the empty air in front of me.
Because at this moment the system window was wide open between us, the only two within the entire empire, possibly the world who could see the screen that comprised my system.
And within that screen to me—
The world unfolded.
