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Noon crept toward Afterlight. But sunlight did not brighten the land. It pressed thin across the mountains, pale like a memory. Air crackled. Tension sat in every breath.
On the plateau below the Summit Gate, the Ether towers stood ready.
Six pillars. Each carved from fracture-crystal drawn in the earliest age. They hummed faint, not bright, not wild, but tight and controlled. Power held in discipline, not burst.
Kael stood in the center of the array. His cloak pulled back. His hair tied stiff. His eyes already focused inward. No fear. No room for hesitation.
Seris paced around him, tracing geometric paths into the ground with her staff tip. Thin threads of Ether stitched into the earth, linking tower to tower, forming a sphere around Kael. A discipline matrix. Precision drove it. One wrong line, the broadcast would tear his mind apart.
Lysara stood at Kael's back, hands clasped tight behind her. She monitored the flow. She watched him with sharp focus, not worry. Her loyalty never frayed. Her voice low so only he heard.
"You hold what others run from."
Kael nodded once. "Running breaks worlds."
"Then stand."
Arin stood at the edge, armor strapped, sword drawn but lowered. Scouts came and went, whispering reports.
"Provinces advance," one said. "Thousands. Standards of three houses. They expect war."
Arin's voice stayed even. "They will not reach us before the vision spreads."
"Unless they march through night," the scout answered.
"They will." Arin's grip tightened. "Fear moves soldiers faster than orders."
Kael did not turn. "No battle today. They see truth before they lift steel."
"And if truth breaks them?" Arin asked.
Kael's tone stayed level. "Better fear reality than die blind."
Arin nodded and stepped back into watch position.
Seris finished the final arc of the matrix. The air inside the circle thickened. Light refracted in sheets. Not warm. Not soft. Precise, like blades of geometry slicing air.
She raised her staff. "Link prepared."
Kael stepped forward to the exact center. Ether rippled around him. His fingers tingled. His breath slowed to a measured rhythm.
Lysara touched his shoulder once. Grounding. Steadying. A single word followed.
"Anchor."
Kael shut his eyes.
Silence.
Not gentle. Hard. Deep. Heavy.
Ether rose around him in thin lines. They stretched into sky, into towers, into ground. A cage of force, perfect, unforgiving.
Seris spoke. "Begin connection."
Kael inhaled. The world responded.
A ring of light spun outward from him. Slow at first. Then faster. Faster. Until towers caught it. They flared. Each pulse linked to the next, forming a dome of controlled radiance.
High in the sky, air rippled. A beam formed. Not vertical. Spreading wide. Like a sheet of clear thought pouring over the land.
Across Afterlight, every tower flared. Cities saw sky distort. Villages paused. Pilgrims knelt. Soldiers slowed their march. Children froze mid-play. Water stilled. Birds paused mid-flight. Animals stood stiff and silent.
Kael's voice entered the link.
Not loud. Not heated. Steady, precise, heavy as carved stone.
"You will see what threatens us. No sovereign refuses truth. No province claims ignorance. You observe. You learn. Then you choose."
His pulse connected to the ether. Pain slit across his skull. Sharp. Controlled. He forced breath steady.
His vision opened into the Origin Plane again.
And this time, he did not stand alone.
The broadcast dragged minds across the world. Thousands. Tens of thousands. Leaders, soldiers, farmers, scholars. Every rank. Every creed.
They saw the plane.
Endless threads of power. Order. Balance. Roots of reality.
Then they saw the cracks.
Thin. Black. Growing. Twitching like nerves. Spreading like veins of poison under skin. Ether shook. Lines bent. Forces warped.
Whispers bled through.
Not words. Pressure. Intent.
A hunger without sound. A will without face.
People in the plains fell to their knees. Warriors dropped spears. Courtiers in crystal halls clutched their chests. Younger minds shook. Older minds broke.
Kael held them. He forced their minds stable. He anchored thought through pure discipline.
His spine burned. Heat crawled across his shoulders like iron pressed to skin. He did not break posture.
He spoke again.
"This is truth. Denial ends now."
A scream rippled across the link. A noble from the southern court. His spirit snapped. His conscious self fled. His body fell still, mind gone. One casualty for truth.
Kael tightened his jaw. He kept the link open.
Children cried in distant towns. Priests collapsed in temples. Soldiers wept where they marched.
Then it deepened.
The Void shifted. It sensed eyes. It sensed minds. It did not retreat.
It pushed.
Dark pulses slammed against the fractured plane. Lines buckled. Reality trembled. Ether flared and dimmed. A pressure like gravity folding inward pressed against every witness.
A second crack split open. Wide. Raw.
Kael staggered one inch. Blood slipped from his nose. Lysara gripped his back, channeling stability into him. Seris anchored the matrix. Arin drew steel, face hard, though blade could not cut concepts.
Kael forced breath. He held. He did not blink.
The Void pressed again. This push carried shape. A silhouette of force, not form. A presence old enough to predate divinity. Minds recoiled.
Faces across the world twisted. Some screamed. Some shook. Some bowed in raw instinctive fear.
Kael raised his voice. Each word carved through pain. Clear. Hard. Unbroken.
"This shadow rises. It consumes light. It consumes will. It consumes worlds."
His breath hitched. He forced it smooth again.
"You stand together now. No war among us. No fracture among living. You face the collapse of all reality."
He pushed thought across the link like a blade:
"Unity. Or annihilation."
The broadcast peaked. Ether whined. Towers shook. The mountain trembled.
Lysara whispered through clenched teeth. "End it."
Kael held one moment longer. Enough for memory to burn deep. Enough for no witness to ever doubt.
Then he cut the link.
The plane collapsed shut.
Silence slammed into the world.
Not peaceful. Shock-still.
Kael's knees buckled. Lysara caught him under both arms. Seris extinguished the matrix. Towers dimmed to faint glow.
Kael breathed shallow. Sweat rolled down neck and spine. Blood dripped from his nose, his lip, the corner of one eye. But his gaze stayed sharp.
He whispered, "They know."
Arin looked over the plains. Signal fires ignited from distant camps. Banners lowered. War horns faltered and fell silent.
"They stop marching," he said.
"They do not stop fearing," Seris corrected.
Kael stood. Slow. Controlled. He wiped blood with the back of his hand.
"Fear wakes those who sleep."
Lysara looked toward distant cities. "Leaders will tremble."
"Good." Kael's voice did not rise. It did not soften. It cut like truth. "Trembling precedes obedience."
Arin gave a short breath. Almost a laugh. Not humor. Respect. Iron respect.
"What now?"
Kael answered without pause.
"We summon them. All rulers. All provinces. A Convergence Summit at the Citadel. No refusal. They come or they fall by decree."
"And if they resist?" Seris asked.
"We break resistance before darkness does."
The wind shifted. Cold now. Heavy with omen.
Kael turned toward the valley.
"We saved the world from blindness."
His expression stayed carved in stone.
"Now we save it from itself."
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