***
{Outside The Projection}
It had come.
The answer.
The truth behind that little dumb hoot.
The confirmation they didn't even want.
Sinbad...
Sinbad was gone.
There was no twist.
No last-minute save or hidden plan.
His soul had given out. Too used up.
Too much was spent to keep Malik alive.
So it flew.
Flew away from its home.
From that black-feathered body.
Back into where it should've been.
And what was left?
Just Black.
A hollow, glass-eyed thing... a bird.
And Malik knew it.
He just didn't say anything about it.
Because what was there to say?
The whole world, every single soul, watched that moment like their own heart got torn out.
He had no one left. Truly, this time.
No old friends. No brothers. No Sinbad.
Just a sword, a cane, and a path paved in blood.
And yet...
And yet...
Their eyes drifted—every one of them—to the front of the hall.
To the massive crimson shape by the Golden Throne.
That bird.
That massive owl.
