From the battered box where Rex's body lay hidden, something stirred. At first, it was only a shimmer, faint motes of silver dust drifting into the air like sparks from a dying star. The dust thickened; it became brighter and sharper until all at once it erupted.
A colossal pillar of silver light tore through the suffocating mist and climbed into the heavens, blinding and magnificent. The darkness recoiled instantly, scattering like prey before a predator. The suffocating weight was lifted, and for the first time since the nightmare began, they could breathe.
From high orbit, Carlos saw it too. The storm that had swallowed the land was torn open in an instant, an eye of clarity shining in the middle of chaos. His fleet's sensors lit up with alarms, readings spiking wildly as the beam of silver power split the night.
In that revealed clearing, something stirred. Something was moving within the heart of the storm, at the very center of the light.
