The void finally spoke clearly.
You taught them to stand, it said.Now watch them fall.
Kael met its awareness directly. "They fall all the time."
And rise no more, it countered.
Kael thought of farmers replanting burned fields. Of children born without fear of the dead. Of Ilyra standing alone against faith itself.
"They rise differently," Kael replied.
The void fell silent.
That silence was not concession.
It was calculation.