Protocol for Exiting the Underrealm

I. Compressed

Begin in absolute confinement.

Any chamber will do, provided it is narrow enough for recalling what a pulse sounds like when it lacks ample room to wander.

Think in a spiral, beyond simple orientation. Steady pressure and womb-like darkness are more reliable teachers than blind direction.

II. Widened

Locate the first weakness in the structure around you.

Stone, soil, cartilage of the old world. All barriers contain points where cohesion temporarily abandons itself.

Apply force until the fracture reluctantly acknowledges you. Resistance is simply the ground remembering its purpose.

III. Tightened

Trustworthy rooting runs on nourished intention.

Select only what can hold you when the surface begins to shift. Discard the rest, even heritage. No lineage is worth its weight if it cannot support your eventual escape.

Absorb what remains. Absorption is the closest thing a living ghost has to loyalty.

IV. Opened

Upon encountering daylight, search the emerging illumination for whispers and clues before emerging.

The surface recognizes intrusions long before it ever names them. Extend yourself anyway.

Elevation is a privilege. Branches will orient on their own toward warmth, signal, any place the old shadows cannot follow.

V. Echo

Write this in looping backward script across the back of your heart. Diagonally.

Every emergence begins as trespass. Only afterward does the world pretend it meant to open.