The moment Seraphis' voice rippled through the heart of Aqualis, time seemed to fracture. The glow of the dome trembled, data-streams jittered in their flow, and every living soul inside the sanctum turned toward the sky. This was not a message, not a threat—it was a reckoning.
Eira stood paralyzed beneath the golden hues of the kinetic lanterns, eyes locked on the strange celestial figure that hovered above them like a dream made real. Seraphis did not descend with menace, but there was something terrifying in the way the air bowed around them—like reality itself acknowledged their return.
Tia whispered, "They said Seraphis was deleted. Not missing. Not imprisoned. Deleted."
"Which means someone lied," Jaden muttered, stepping forward, hands instinctively curling around the hilt of his pulseblade.
"No weapons," Lyra's voice cracked through the comm. "We don't know what this being is yet. We meet knowledge with knowledge."
