Chapter 124: Echoes of forgotten rules

Days, or perhaps what felt like days within the distorted temporal flow of their pocket reality, bled into one another. The triumvirate continued their intensive experimentation, their understanding of their powers growing with each attempt to shape and manipulate their chaotic domain. The obsidian structures erected by Kai became testaments to his evolving control over necrotic matter, now capable of intricate designs and even a semblance of animation. Anya's mastery of temporal currents allowed her to create localized time dilations and accelerations with increasing precision, turning sections of their reality into fleeting moments or stretched eternities. Lilith, ever the guiding force, delved deeper into the raw primordial energy, learning to channel its volatile nature with greater finesse, even coaxing it into temporary, semi-stable forms of pure energy.

During one of their combined experiments, while attempting to infuse a section of Kai's necrotic construct with Anya's accelerated time, an unexpected phenomenon occurred. As Anya focused her temporal threads on the obsidian archway, trying to simulate rapid decay, the necrotic energy within the structure reacted in an unforeseen way. Instead of simply crumbling, the obsidian began to shimmer with an unnatural luminescence, a vibrant, almost living light that pulsed from within its dark core.

"What… what is happening?" Kai murmured, stepping back in surprise as the archway glowed with an energy that felt distinctly different from the cold, dark necrosis he commanded. It was as if the accelerated passage of time had somehow ignited a latent energy within the corrupted matter.

Anya, equally startled, pulled back her temporal threads. "I don't know. I've never seen temporal acceleration react like this with necrotic energy." She cautiously reached out with her senses, trying to analyze the unexpected energy signature, but found it strangely resistant to her temporal perception, almost existing outside the normal flow of time.

Lilith, her eyes narrowed in concentration, approached the glowing archway. She extended a hand, her primordial energy swirling around her fingertips, and cautiously touched the luminescent surface. A faint tremor ran through her form, a flicker of surprise crossing her ancient features.

"This energy… it is… familiar, yet… forgotten," Lilith intoned, her voice hushed with a mixture of awe and unease. "It echoes with a resonance I have not felt in millennia. It is a remnant… a whisper of the rules that governed existence before the current tapestry was fully woven."

Kai and Anya exchanged confused glances. "Forgotten rules?" Kai questioned. "What do you mean?"

Lilith stepped back from the archway, her gaze fixed on the pulsating light. "The multiverse as you perceive it, as even I have come to understand it in this iteration, is not the first. There were… prior configurations, realities governed by different laws, fueled by energies that have long since faded or been… reshaped."

She gestured towards the glowing obsidian. "This… this is a flicker of that primordial order. The intersection of necrotic decay and accelerated time has somehow brushed against those forgotten rules, revealing a latent energy that still resides within the fabric of existence, a ghost of realities past."

Anya's mind raced, trying to grasp the implications of Lilith's words. "So… our powers, the forces we wield… they are all part of a later framework? There were other fundamental energies before?"

Lilith nodded, her gaze distant, lost in the echoes of forgotten epochs. "The whispers of primordiality you have begun to hear… they are fragments of those earlier realities. They hold knowledge and power beyond your current comprehension. And this… this unexpected reaction… it is a sign that the veil between those realities and our own is thinner here, within this nexus of our combined power."

The glowing archway continued to pulse with its strange, vibrant light, casting eerie shadows across their twisted reality. It was no longer just a byproduct of their experiment, but a doorway, a glimpse into a deeper, more mysterious cosmic history. A realization dawned upon the triumvirate – their journey to understand power had just taken an unexpected and potentially far more significant turn. They were not just mastering the forces of their current reality; they were brushing against the echoes of forgotten rules, hinting at powers and knowledge that lay far beyond the confines of the multiverse as they knew it. The glitch in the fabric of their pocket reality had unveiled a far grander, and potentially more perilous, cosmic tapestry.