Timeline: TC1853.02.01 (Night) - After Ascara's Withdrawal
Location: North Shrine Containment Facility - Collapsing Chamber
The golden light faded as Ascara withdrew its presence.
Not darkness returning—just normal reality reasserting itself after a cosmic intervention that had bent dimensional laws around necessity. The chamber that had been suspended in spiritual timespace settled back into mundane physics with a transition that felt jarring after experiencing divine awareness, like waking from a dream where you could fly to find yourself bound once more by gravity's merciless pull.
Raven stood in the ruins of the containment unit, Elian still cradled carefully in arms that had been rebuilt at the cellular level by awakening power. The child's weight felt different now—not burden but trust, his small body relaxing against her chest with a security that transcended normal human comfort, as if some part of his cosmic essence recognized kindred significance in hers.
