The communication crystal flared to life at dawn, three days before we were scheduled to leave for the mountains. I was in the middle of morning exercises, testing my ribs, when Damian burst through the door with the device already crackling with Uncle Victor's voice.
"Hadeon, emergency. Drop everything and respond now."
I grabbed the crystal from Damian's hands. "What happened?"
"Something appeared at the estate, it seems serious. Something." Uncle Victor's voice was tightly controlled, the tone he used when managing panic. "It's gone now, but it left a message. You need to hear this."
"Start from the beginning."
He did.
