He had just finished reading Wren Ollan's quiet message, written years ago and preserved in the Library in anticipation of another orb-overload case seeking to understand the experiences of those who had come before.
Wren had written it for him.
For whoever the seventh case turned out to be.
For years, the old soul had been preparing for his arrival, leaving behind written guidance for someone they might never meet. Elenora had done the same through her papers. Wren through this volume. Even the sponsorship, the counsel, and the access to the Library had been arranged by people who had been waiting for a seventh case to appear.
Bruce was stepping into a framework that had been built for him long before he existed in this world.
For a moment, he felt both the immense comfort of that support and the crushing weight of being the person all those preparations had been made for.
