EPISODE 9: THE PRISONER ## CHAPTER 1: BENEATH THE BATTLE The void is cold. Harper floats in darkness so complete that light itself seems afraid to enter. The prisoner—the thing that was sealed away when the universe was young—coils around them like smoke made solid, probing, testing, trying to understand what strange creature dares oppose it. YOU ARE NOT THE FIRST, the prisoner says. Its voice isn't sound. It's absence of sound. Meaning carved into silence. OTHERS CAME BEFORE. THEY TRIED TO CAGE ME. THEY FAILED.The entity succeeded, Harper responds. You've been locked away for billions of years.LOCKED. NOT DEFEATED. The void ripples with something like amusement. AND NOW YOUR LITTLE BRIDGE-CREATURE HAS SET ME FREE. HOW FITTING. HOPE ALWAYS DESTROYS ITSELF.I'm not destroyed yet.YOU WILL BE. EVERYTHING WILL BE. THAT IS MY NATURE. I AM ENTROPY GIVEN WILL. I AM THE END THAT WAITS FOR ALL THINGS. The prisoner strikes. Harper feels it—not as pain, but as negation. Parts of their consciousness simply cease to exist, erased by contact with something that predates existence itself. The entity's power flows through them, healing what was taken, rebuilding what was destroyed. But not fast enough. Never fast enough. I CAN DO THIS FOREVER, the prisoner says. CAN YOU? Harper doesn't answer. They're too busy not dying....