The simulation crystallized around Noah's perception with perfect clarity.
He found himself in the Stoa of Dogmata, the endless colonnade of ancient pillars stretching in all directions. Their surfaces still burned with inscriptions of Dogmata from eras that predated differentiation itself.
And there, exactly where she'd been during their previous encounters, sat THE Secretive Eon.
Her small, delicate form remained composed upon the obsidian ground. Dark hair with rivers of gold caught light that seemed to come from nowhere. Her white-blue robe draped across her shoulders with elegant simplicity. Those dark eyes held depths that could swallow entire civilizations without noticing.
She didn't turn as his simulated body approached.
"You have returned quickly, Scale Breaker." Her voice emerged measured and unhurried. "I find myself wondering how you have so much time on your hands to play around."
