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That night, long after Elara had fallen asleep in the guest chamber, Aria sat alone by the dying fire. She stared at her empty hands, at the place where her system interface used to appear. It had gone silent after Book One was marked complete - but now she wondered if it had truly gone silent, or if it had simply stopped showing her the menus she was allowed to see.

'Show me the deepest layer,' she thought. 'Show me what you never let me see.'

For a long moment, nothing happened. Then the air rippled - not blue, not silver, but deep, glowing gold. The interface unfolded before...