The air crackled with dimensional instability as the Eighth Configuration hummed with power. Reed Harrow's consciousness, now more mathematical equation than human mind, stretched across the eight artifacts. Through eyes that perceived reality as overlapping probability fields, he watched as the dimensional lens stabilized, revealing truths so profound they threatened to shatter what little humanity remained within him.
Shia stood beside him, her evolved form pulsing with energy—a living conduit between the artifacts. Her once-human features had surrendered to something transcendent; light leaked from her eyes and fingertips, her skin translucent enough to reveal the galaxy of energy nodes that had replaced her internal organs.
