Within a glass vault upon the edge of an unbroken sea, silence waited like a thought not yet spoken. The air held its breath. The water did not move. Two forms lay suspended—one in dust, one in tide—each a mirror of the other, each void of memory, resting in the hush before names are born.
[Observation 7.1 — Initiate Sequence. All systems ready.]
Then light came. Not as dawn, but as command. It pulsed once through the chamber—white, precise—and the stone remembered it. The glass caught it. The warmth that followed lingered, hesitant, gold and trembling, as though mercy itself were testing its hands.
In the dry chamber, dust stirred. A chest rose, drew breath, and the still air rippled like mist at sunrise. Across the barrier, in the chamber of water, another shape shifted—a tail cutting a slow arc through silver light. Motion answered motion. Reflection became response. And from the echo of two awakenings, life began to remember itself.
[Observation Record: Recognition delay four seconds. Barrier intact.]
The glass between them wavered—neither clear nor clouded, neither yes nor no. Fear flickered in that in-between, and yet it softened, as if even fear longed to see what waited on the other side.
Thus the First Two awoke, and in their waking, the world learned the shape of its second thought.
Light pressed against their closed eyes until darkness had no choice but to yield. The one of air drew in breath; the one of water shivered in reply. Vision opened, hesitant and holy.
Between them the barrier shone like a blade made of morning—sharp, perfect, merciless. Each saw movement reflected, mistaking it for the self reborn. And in that error, fear bloomed: the terror of being seen.
[Log 7.2 — Initial visual contact verified. Proceed to rhythm stimulus.]
Then the light gentled, cooling from white to amber—from command to welcome. Dust rose and drifted like pollen. In the water, algae swirled in constellations. The Two leaned closer, drawn by something older than purpose, younger than understanding.
Above, the watchers recorded data.
Below, the silence shifted.
And in that breathless moment between note and meaning, the vault itself remembered how to breathe.
Go to Chapter 2: The First Tap
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“Symbiosis” is a story built upon the universe outlined in Mage: Chronicles of the Rift, our first book coming out via Kickstarter on November 3rd, 2025 – View
