The courtyard had gone silent, the kind of silence that felt too heavy, like the air itself knew something was wrong.
Nathan's chest heaved across from him, sword clutched in a tight fist. Elara's boots scuffed as she came closer, her expression a mixture of irritation and something sharper beneath. Merlin didn't move, the wooden blade still loose in his grip, but his pulse beat fast enough to make the weapon tremble.
Then it happened.
A sound like tearing fabric, but stretched out across the entire sky.
The three of them froze, heads tilting upward. Above the fortress walls, the clouds themselves seemed to rip apart, edges glowing with a violent, shifting purple.
A gate.
Merlin's stomach dropped.
'No… not here. Not now.'
Elara was already shouting orders. "Get the others awake! Now!" Her voice cracked sharp through the air as soldiers scrambled from the barracks, half-dressed, clutching steel.
