Interlude 1: Voyeur

The figure paced over an endless void. Too-fine silk robes billowed in a non existent wind, pressing close to his body. With every step, a thin stone platform appeared beneath him. Vanishing as soon as his naked feet lost contact.

Swirling lights surrounded him. Dancing through the air in a silent symphony of movement. They trailed after him like a cloud.

He hadn’t felt this constrained in far too long. It was easy to languish in immobile solitude when there was nothing to hold his attention. It would still be tens of millennia until the safeguards kicked in and he was returned to the greater universe.

It still infuriated him.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

The chances of a world stabilising after the first stage were vanishingly small. Even for a world that had already had magic like this one. The whole integration, the creation of the Depths, was supposed to incite a ravenous desire for growth.

Supposed to push them.

Instead it seemed like they just stopped trying. As soon as the mana density stabilised, as legacy skills were found and Dynasties forged, they had just…stopped.

Space started to ripple, the very fabric of reality beginning to boil.

It was enraging. An affront to the system. Where were the people pushing themselves to the brink? Forcing themselves to adapt? They were supposed to advance to the second stage far before mana stabilised.

There were ELEVEN triggers. And not one, not ONE, had been activated in over twelve thousand years. Astounding.

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