The stars above flickered unnaturally, as though each one trembled under an unseen weight. Kael felt it too — a vibration beneath reality itself, resonating in his marrow.
> [System Notification: Foreign Authority detected…]
The words were jagged, corrupted, forcing themselves into his mind like broken glass. And then he saw them — brief flashes of iron chains, older than galaxies, wrapped around something colossal in the abyss.
The whispers grew louder.
"Devourer… you are late."
Kael's breath caught. He turned, but no one was there. Only shadows moving against shadows.
For the first time since receiving the System, he wondered if it was truly his… or if he was only the latest prisoner to hold it.
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