The Convergence Court filled the transformed central spire with a low, constant pulse. Weeks had passed since Selene's full merger with the web. The old festival grounds were gone, replaced by walls of living shadow veins that throbbed in time with her commands.
Every citizen and official stood in ordered rows under the dim red light. Absence meant immediate collection by enforcers. No one tested it twice.
Selene stood at the raised dais, her form taller now, skin threaded with visible veins that shifted like liquid cables.
Atlas waited at her right side. His right arm hung at his side, fingers twitching on their own. It had grown longer, the skin darkened to near-black with faint glowing lines running through it.
Sometimes it moved without him. Today it signed decrees as Selene spoke, the hand guiding the pen in precise strokes while Atlas's mind drifted in and out of focus.
