BOOK II — THE COMING

Chapter VI — Of the Quiet Compromise

(The Veil Version — VV)
1. There was no trumpet,
nor open revolt,
only a shifting of weight.
2. What was once resisted
became tolerated;
what was tolerated
became defended.
3. No line was erased—
it was simply moved,
a little at a time.
4. Conscience did not die;
it grew tired.
5. For truth demands courage daily,
and fatigue is persuasive.
6. They told themselves
the moment was not right,
that silence was strategy,
that patience was wisdom.
7. And so the hour passed,
and with it,
the clarity they once held.
8. No chains were fastened,
yet fewer walked freely.
9. Agreement was not required—
only the absence of objection.
10. The few needed not to conquer,
only to wait.
11. When recognition finally came,
it arrived not as shock,
but as memory—
of a boundary once known.
12. So it was written:
what is surrendered in whispers
is rarely reclaimed in shouts.