Chapters
1. Chapter 1 - Protocol
2. Chapter 2 - The Name
3. Chapter 3 - In the Room
4. Chapter 4 - Glass and Thread
5. Chapter 5 - Measured Steps
6. Chapter 6 - Ritual Failure
7. Chapter 7 - The Breaking Point
8. Chapter 8 - The Neophyte
9. Chapter 9 - The Seal
10. Chapter 10 - Echoes in Stone
11. Chapter 11 - Two Heartbeats
12. Chapter 12 - First Silence
13. Chapter 13 - Stillness and Shape
14. Chapter 14 - A Deliberation of Shadows
15. Chapter 15 - Terms of Transition
16. Chapter 16 -In Transit
17. Chapter 17 - Echoes in the Hall
18. Chapter 18 - Thirst and Thread
19. Chapter 19 - Ash and Apology
20. Chapter 20 - Porcelain and Perspective
21. Chapter 21 - The Wild Between
22. Chapter 22 - A Week in Quiet
23. Chapter 23 - Return on a Leash
24. Chapter 24 - Fragments Out of Place
25. Chapter 25 - Circles of Influence
26. Chapter 26 - ???
27. Chapter 27 - Where She Stands
28. Chapter 28 - Threaded Reflections
29. Chapter 29 - Shaped in Echoes
30. Chapter 30 - Measured Reentry
31. Chapter 31 - Shadow Tether
32. Chapter 32 - The Threshold
33. Chapter 33 - Tethered Heat
34. Chapter 34 - Smoke and Honey
35. Chapter 35 - The Weight of What Comes Next
36. Chapter 36 - Aftertaste
37. Chapter 37 - The Quiet Weapon
38. Chapter 38 - The Thread
39. Chapter 39 - Echoes in the Thread
40. Chapter 40 - The Weight of Welcome
41. Chapter 41 - Tethers
42. Chapter 42 - The Weight Carried
43. Chapter 43 - Fever in the Veins
44. Chapter 44 - Stranger in the Mirror
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Chapter 40 - The Weight of Welcome
Chapter 40: The Weight of Welcome
Topher
The elevator hummed beneath his feet, each second of descent stretching like wet thread. He stood still, back straight, the duffel bag strap digging into his shoulder as he rehearsed words he’d never say. There was no script for this — no way to pre...
