But Ethan stopped them casually, his will pressing down on the chaos like a hand smoothing wrinkled fabric. He couldn't allow his search to destroy the world his parents lived on, even if that world was hiding them from him.
His consciousness swept through every city, every town, every remote corner of the globe. Hospitals. Prisons. Government facilities. Underground bunkers. Nothing escaped his attention as he methodically catalogued every human life on Earth.
Then—there.
Suddenly the signatures of his parents were found.
The recognition hit him like lightning. Two familiar patterns of life energy, older and frailer than he remembered, but unmistakably them. His mother's gentle soul, still carrying that same warmth despite whatever had happened. His father's steady presence, worn by time and worry but enduring.
They were alive.
Without hesitation, he disappeared from the sky and appeared right where he felt their signatures emanating from.
