Apprentices Flicker and Jasper, responsible for prism deployment and kinetic sequencing respectively, discover the light-capturing prisms are inert and the security locks on the logistics tunnels have failed due to conceptual erasure. Flicker's signal wire also lacks tensile strength, confirming a systemic failure. They decide to bypass protocol and ascend to the Town Square to investigate the Great Evergreen directly. Upon reaching the square, they witness a fast-moving, shadowy entity moving along the unlit branches of the tree, and notice the ground beneath their feet is becoming unsettlingly soft, suggesting the Gray Fade is actively compromising foundational material integrity. They resolve to reach the Source Chamber beneath the tree to confront the threat.