He stared at the drawing until his eyes burned, trying to force more memories to surface. The empty throne seemed to mock him with its silence.
"Get some rest," he told himself, putting the notes away. "We have a long journey ahead."
But sleep proved elusive. He lay awake, watching the stars through gaps in the forest canopy. The silver threads of the Void Lattice were visible even here, stretching across the night sky like luminous spider silk.
[You're brooding.]
'I'm thinking, If I created these fractures as seals, why make them so... unstable? Why not something more permanent?'
[Perhaps permanence wasn't the goal. Think about it - a rigid seal would simply break under enough pressure. But a network of controlled fractures...]
'Could adapt and redistribute the strain.' He frowned. 'Like a living organism.'
[Exactly. You didn't just create a prison - you created a system that could evolve.]
