It's been two days since the first attack,
After stabilising the situation across the Empires and forcing the first fragile steps of rebuilding, a quiet, heavy truth settled over the people... Hope had not vanished, but it had begun to crack, like glass under slow pressure.
Even so, they clung to a single belief, a final thread refusing to snap, that their future generations would be safe, held together by the will of one man.
Aether sat within Lyirrs lab, surrounded by dimly glowing instruments and silent machines that hummed like restrained beasts.
Cold light reflected off polished metal and glass, painting his figure in pale silver. His gaze remained fixed on the recording device before him... This was the moment before everything broke. The calm before a world was carved open.
The recording crackled to life, distorted voices struggling through static, as though clawing their way across a great distance.
[S-Sir… Connected… W… We… finally… them…]
