The ocean ripple did not fade.
It continued expanding across the horizon like a slow pulse traveling through the world itself. The geometric patterns that once moved peacefully across the water were now distorted, bending toward the disturbance as if gravity itself had changed direction.
Shunya stood at the summit terrace, eyes fixed on the distant anomaly.
"It is getting stronger," he said.
The system responded quietly.
[Resonance amplification detected.]
Feng Xia did not answer immediately.
Her attention had shifted toward the mountain beneath them.
The stone was glowing.
Not brightly.
But steadily.
Thin lines of light began spreading across the summit terrace, tracing patterns that had been carved into the stone long before Shunya arrived.
Ancient symbols.
The same symbols that covered the pillars across the island.
"The island has noticed," Feng Xia said.
Shunya glanced down.
"You make it sound alive."
"It is."
The ground trembled once more.
