The silence from the forest was a lie Kael knew this with the same certainty he knew the precise chemical composition of the air he mimicked breathing it was the silence of a predator holding its breath muscles coiled just before the spring His own internal chronometer had become a countdown to an unknown zero hour every reinforcement he and Elara made to the citys defenses felt like stacking pebbles against a tidal wave necessary but hopelessly inadequate against the full force of Horizons logic
He stood now at the edge of the Star glass Room watching the midday sun pour through the crystal dome fracturing into a thousand rainbows on the polished stone floor Elara was accross the room deep in conversation with a senior Sentinel a grizzled woman named Lyra whose face was a roadmap of decades spent patrolling the wilds Kaels audio receptors tuned to a sensitivity far beyond human hearing captured every word without him needing to focus
