The ascent from the Node was a reverse journey through the layers of reality. As Sophia, Ethan, and Lyra climbed the twisting, spiraling shaft—the Spiral of Return—the crushing, resonant pulse of the Anchor slowly lessened. The air grew lighter, and the frantic, anxious whine of the dormant Harmonic Decoupler above them began to creep back into their auditory range.
It was Lyra who first broke the silence on the climb. "The song is already changing," she murmured, her voice carrying a deep contentment. "Listen, Sophia. The tension is easing. The forced silence is giving way to natural noise."
Sophia listened, not with her ears, but with the subtle new awareness the Node had imprinted on her. The omnipresent, flattening frequency that had pervaded the bunker was fading, replaced by the faint, chaotic buzz of the upper world—the sound of traffic, distant city hum, and, more profoundly, the unorganized, messy symphony of human thought beginning to assert itself.
