Exactly 48 hours later, the sky screamed.Not metaphorically.A single, piercing note cut through Havenford at midday—sharp enough to shatter a clay mug in Merra's hand three streets away. People froze in the market square, hands to ears. Birds erupted from rooftops. The shrine bell answered in frantic counterpoint.I was mid-bite of Lena's apple pastry when the pressure hit.[They're here.] MMA said. [Full probe. No preamble.]The Lobby door in my room burned hot in my awareness, even from downstairs."Team," I said, already moving. "Now."They materialized like they'd been waiting for this exact moment.Harven from the Guild. Aria from the shrine steps. Lyse and Sara from a spell-practice session. Rel sprinting from patrol. Lena locking her stall with a look that said go, I'll hold the civilians.We hit the stairs running.The Lobby unfolded—not calm twilight, but storm-gray chaos. Threads to F-01 and S-07 whipped like live wires. The orb pulsed erratically, spitting arcs of light.The center of the room held no silhouette this time.A gate.Ten feet tall, frame of fractured white light, surface rippling like disturbed oil.Beyond: not darkness, not stars.Eyes.Hundreds. Thousands. Layered in impossible geometries, all focused on a single point.Me.BRIDGE.The voice was chorus and command.DEMONSTRATE UTILITY.OR DESIGNATE NODE F-01 FOR ACCELERATED UNRAVELING.The air thickened to treacle.Harven drew his sword.Aria began a warding chant.Lyse's hands crackled.But the pressure—It pinned.Authority far beyond the drain demon. Beyond merchant mirrors.This was management.Real management.I stepped forward.Alone."Not alone," I murmured.My bloodline surged—not raw power, but the thing I'd built these last days.Connections."Watch," I said to the eyes.I touched the orb.Not with force.With invitation.F-01 thread flared—shrine hum, field lights, Havenford laughter.S-07 answered—relay harmonics, Rhea's grin, station spin.The hybrid ward-relay activated.New light bloomed: not green, not blue.Gold.What is this? the chorus demanded."Proof," I said.I pushed deeper.Not just worlds.People.Aria's steady hands on cracked stone. Lena's quiet anchors. Lyse's reckless sparks. Sara's healing calm. Rel's reliable shoulder. Harven's gruff trust.Rhea's jury-rigged defiance across the void.Higher.The bloodline's core truth:Number One doesn't conquer.It connects.The gate shuddered.Eyes narrowed. Multiplied. Fissured.UNSANCTIONED LINKS.SILOS BREACHED.ANOMALY SPREADING.Lyse laughed, wild."That's right!" she called. "We're the bad data!"Aria's chant peaked, shrine resonance flooding the hybrid network.The orb blazed.REVOKE—"No."My voice carried the same weight they wielded.Priority."You mapped the cracks," I said. "I mapped the strength."Golden threads exploded outward—not to the gate, but through it.Eyes recoiled.Some blinked. Some fractured. Some... watched closer.This configuration is... unlogged.Utility... demonstrated.The gate destabilized.But one voice lingered, separate from the chorus.Bridge.You have bought time.Not victory.The true unraveling continues.We will return with parameters.The gate imploded.Silence.The orb dimmed to peaceful twilight.Havenford's scream-note faded.Outside, the sky cracks... dulled. Not healed. Stabilized.The team exhaled.Harven sheathed his sword."Was that winning?" Rel asked."Was that surviving," Sara corrected.Lyse punched my arm."You're insane.""Thanks."Aria touched the orb gently."Spirits felt that," she said. "They're... proud?"Lena slipped in, tray balanced impossibly."Pastry reinforcements," she announced.We ate in the Lobby's glow, adrenaline crash turning to quiet triumph.[Objective "Prove the Anomaly": PARTIAL SUCCESS.] MMA reported.WORLD AFFINITY F-01: 27% → 41%
S-07: 4.2% → 12%
NEW: Multiverse Lobby – Tier 1 Stable
REWARD UNLOCKED: Limited Transit (2 worlds max)
NEW QUEST: "True Unraveling" – Investigate higher-order motives.Rhea's shimmer appeared.She stepped through—physically, solid, station jumpsuit smelling faintly of ozone."Bridge Boy!" she called. "Did you just sass cosmic bureaucracy?""With style," Lyse said.Rhea grinned, grabbing a pastry."Team," she said, nodding around. "I like it."Harven raised his mug."To bad data," he said."To connections," Aria added."To holding," Sara said."To sass," Lyse and Rhea said together.Lena smiled."To home," she said quietly.I looked at the dulled sky through the shimmering door.The Observers would return.With parameters.With threats.But now I had more than a bloodline.I had a multiverse alliance.In a tavern.In a Lobby.Across stars and spirits."Welcome to the war," I said.Rhea clapped my shoulder."About time we made it official."