"Power thinks in maps and maneuvers; life thinks in stubborn, improbable futures. Where one plans an end, the other plants a beginning."
The aftermath of Rell Vorn's forced severing was not merely a strategic loss; it was a physical tearing, a vicious magical backlash that left a cold, throbbing void in my skull where the Silver Fang link once resided. Rell was captured, the Genesis Mage's primary territorial trigger neutralized, and the Law now possessed a living informant who knew far too much.
But as I stood before the war table, the black residue of the failed scrying pool still glistening, the searing pain of the severance was quickly overshadowed by a new, more profound sensation, a subtle, psychic current that was both terrifyingly clear and utterly confirming of my deepest, most destructive fears. It wasn't a hostile, chaotic energy; it was a profound, concentrated Omega warmth, radiating outward from the heart of the Northern Keep like a freshly ignited star.
