---
One day later….
They hit the door left on the last night like soldiers returning to a siege they had begun to love.
The plaque still said DISPOSAL. The air still tried to be brave and failed. But the room itself had changed. Eighty percent of it was no longer an argument. Eighty percent were stone that remembered being stone.
Fizz tipped his lantern toward the nearest numbered square and saluted it like an old rival. "Final boss," he whispered. "We have come to beat you with bristles."
John set the bar back, slipped the duty slate into his inner pocket, and felt the egg in the void hum faintly against his sternum — warm, wordless, wanting. He checked the tether the way he now checked his own pulse.
[System: Mana sheath steady. Micro-tether stable.
Hatch Progress: 30%.
Status: stalled.
Note: Additional nutrient type required.]
