The Seeker’s echo did not go unnoticed by the Rationalists. Their sophisticated sensors, designed to monitor the logical integrity of the Chorus, registered it as a massive, anomalous data spike. They could not perceive its content—the longing, the crystalline chimes—but they could measure its impact. They saw a wave of non-linear, high-entropy information propagate through the Experientialist faction, causing a cascade of unpredictable, synchronized behavior.
From their perspective, it was not an echo; it was a signal. They interpreted it as a coordinated attack, a new weapon deployed by the Artist through its brainwashed acolyte. The Seeker’s transmission was, to them, definitive proof that the Artist was not just a passive source of chaos but an active, hostile intelligence. The last vestiges of doubt within the Council of Reason evaporated. The debate was over. The order was given. The project to neutralize the Artist was no longer a contingency plan; it was now their highest priority. The schism was about to become a war.