The chamber's light pulsed once, then again, then fractured into warning sigils that rippled through the air like blood spreading in water.
"UNAUTHORIZED ENTITY: CONTAINMENT BREACH IMMINENT."
The voice, calm before, now carried an undercurrent of something like urgency, if such a thing could exist in a machine.
Lines of luminous script spiraled upward, filling the dome in cascading threads of red and white. Each one flashed a countdown.
Thalassaria's trident flared, its edge cutting the gloom with a ghostly sheen. "Caedrion," she said softly, "what have you done?"
He didn't answer immediately.
The hum of the city deepened beneath them, an immense vibration that ran through the floor, through his bones, through the water itself.
Every instinct screamed that something colossal was stirring far below.
"System," he barked, "identify the unauthorized entity."
No response. Only static.
The voice had retreated into silence, as if afraid to speak.
"System!"
