Ahia Senan stared at the holographic map of the Empire's resource flow. Her eyes, usually trained to spot wilting leaves, were now being trained to spot wilting numbers.
"Here," she said, pointing to a cluster of red lines. "And here."
Omari Imani leaned over the table, her Violet Aura casting a royal glow over the data. "Mmm hmm."
"It's the obsidian shipments," Ahia said, tracing the line. "Standard construction requests for the 4th District repairs. But look at the destination logs. The Original Documents in the Archive say the obsidian was delivered to the Western Portal Authority."
"The West?" Omari frowned, adjusting her Isigolwani "There is no construction in the West. That is the gateway to the Desert Mirror.".
Ahia tapped another set of data. "And look at the energy consumption. Thousands of Cosmic-energy-bank artifacts—the kind Albinos use to supplement their reserves—were purchased by shell companies.".
Omari's eyes narrowed. "Obsidian is a conductor. Cosmic batteries are a power source. If you send that much conductive stone into a monoclimatic desert..."
"You aren't building a house," Ahia finished, a cold dread settling in her stomach. "You are building a circuit board."
Omari grabbed a comms crystal. "Get me the Jeshilaanga. We have unauthorized infrastructure in the Mirror World."
"Wait," Ahia said, her Manomi instincts screaming. She looked at the map again. "Why the Desert? It's hot. It's dry. It has the highest solar intensity from the Celestial Lantern.".
"It is the perfect place for solar collection," Omari reasoned.
"No," Ahia whispered. "It's the perfect place for a connection. The Desert Mirror has no atmospheric interference. If you wanted to reach the sky... specifically the layers above the earth... that is where you would stand."
She looked at Omari.
"They aren't collecting power, Authority Imani. They are offering a path."
The Desert Mirror – The Obsidian Needle
Agyenim Davu was on his knees. The heat of the sand burned through his trousers.
The Mufarikha leader stood over him, the black glass knife raised. Behind him, the Obsidian Tower began to hum. It was a jagged spire, blacker than night, drinking in the relentless golden light of the Desert Mirror and converting it into a vibration that shook the dunes.
"The Sky is too high," the leader chanted, his voice rasping. "The Astraposphere is too thick. We must lower the ladder."
Agyenim watched the tower. He understood now. The layers of the sky.
Above the earth was the Dildillaac, the storm layer of the Kifofirists. Above that was the Astraposphere, the sheath of inductive pressure that protected the world from the raw lightning of the Lumen pearls. Above that was the Cosmosphere, the Celestial Sea. And above it all, the Crystal Dome.
The Kifofirists were trapped in the Dildillaac because the Astraposphere acted as a pressure lid, keeping them contained. But the Tower...
"It's a ground wire," Agyenim whispered, horrified. "You are going to ground the Dildillaac to the earth."
"We are the connection!" the leader screamed. "Die, scribe, and baptize the wire!"
The knife came down.
BOOM.
The air didn't just split; it shattered.
A massive Red Aura shockwave hit the dune like a meteor impact. The Mufarikha leader was vaporized instantly—obliterated by pure kinetic force.
Sand exploded outward in a fifty-foot radius, crashing like a wave.
When the dust settled, a mountain of a man stood between Agyenim and the remaining cultists.
Azure Oba had arrived.
The Authority on Military Might was terrifying. He wore his Red Isiagu, the fabric straining against his muscles. His long natural dreads floated in the zero-gravity of his own Ase field. In his hand, the Elao tusk artifact glowed with a blood-red light.
"You are quite late," Agyenim wheezed, slumping back onto the sand.
"I had to park," Azure grunted.
He looked at the twenty remaining Mufarikha. They were fanatics, armed with glass knives and death wishes.
Azure didn't draw a sword. He didn't manifest a spear. He simply activated the Passive Weapon Art of the Shield: Durability. His skin took on a metallic sheen.
"Kill him!" a cultist screamed, charging.
The Mufarikha swarm hit Azure like waves hitting a cliff. Knives shattered against his skin. Azure moved with brutal economy. He didn't fight; he dismantled. A backhand sent three men flying with shattered ribcages. A stomp created a localized dry quicksand that swallowed five more.
It was the Severity of the High Table. Absolute, uncompromising power.
"Turn it off!" Azure roared at Agyenim, pointing at the humming tower while crushing a cultist's skull with his bare hand. "The Tower! Deactivate it!"
"I can't!" Agyenim shouted, scrambling away from the melee. "It's hard-wired! It's drawing power from the batteries!"
Azure threw the last Mufarikha into the tower's base. The man hit the obsidian with a sickening crunch, but the tower didn't stop humming. The vibration grew louder, a sound that made teeth ache.
"Then we break it," Azure growled.
He raised his Elao tusk. He channeled his entire Red Aura (Root Chakra) into a single point of impact. Active Weapon Art: Spear Construct.
Dildillot Erimett spear of pure red energy materialized in the sky above him.
"BREAK!" Azure bellowed, bringing his arm down.
The energy spear slammed into the Obsidian Needle.
SMACK!
The tower fractured. But it didn't fall.
Instead, the energy of Azure's strike seemed to be absorbed by the obsidian. The black stone glowed red, then turned a blinding, negative white.
"It's a conductor!" Agyenim realized too late. "Azure, don't hit it with Ase! It eats energy!"
The tower released its payload.
A beam of Anti-Light—a column of pure, silent darkness—shot straight up into the sky.
It pierced the atmosphere of the Desert Mirror. It punched through the dimensional barrier. It shot up through the real sky of Middle Earth.
It hit the Astraposphere.
The inductive pressure layer, designed to shield the world, was punctured. A hole in the "Sheath".
High above the earth, in the swirling grey misery of the Dildillaac, the Kifofirists stopped their aimless drifting.
They felt it. A hole in the floor. A vacuum pulling them down.
The Ground Wire was active.
Through the tear in the Astraposphere, the raw lightning of the Lumen pearls mixed with the entropy of the Dildillaac. A funnel cloud formed—a tornado the size of a city, made of lightning and ghosts.
"Azure!" Agyenim screamed, pointing up.
The sky of the Desert Mirror tore open. Through the rift, the Dildillaac began to pour in. It wasn't rain. It was a waterfall of grey spirits and blue-black Iku.
"We have to go," Azure said, his face grim. He grabbed Agyenim by the collar of his ruined waistcoat.
"But the Tower—"
"The Tower has done its job," Azure said, watching the first wave of Kifofirists descend like locusts. "The invasion has begun."
Azure activated his Personal Portal Stone (a military-grade artifact). A swirl of red light enveloped them.
Just before they vanished, Agyenim looked back.
The Desert Mirror was no longer a wasteland of sun. It was being filled with the storm. And once the storm filled the Mirror... it would spill over into the Real World.