They were asleep.
Not from exhaustion.
Not from safety spells.
Just tired in the normal way.
I stepped away.stood at the edge of the realm Aethern helped stabilize
a place that didn't need me to exist, but allowed it anyway.
That mattered.
I remembered when every second demanded action.
Rewrite.
Correct.
Surpass.
Silence used to feel like failure.
Now it felt earned.No voice followed my thoughts.
No structure tried to shape them.
I wondered not about power but about time.
How long had it been since I let something unfold without interference.
Longer than most universes live.I could still end everything.
Still rewrite every layer.
Still step outside all stories.
But I didn't want to.
Not because I couldn't.
Because I didn't need to prove anything anymore.
That was new.I adjusted one thing.
Not a law.
Not a fate.
Just a quiet correction so the stars above the sleeping realm would last a little longer before fading.
No one noticed.
That was the point.I sat down.
Not as a constant.
Not as an answer.
Just as someone who finally had nowhere else he needed to be.
And for the first time in a very long while
I stayed.