The moment Aren Vale released his power, the city changed.
Wind exploded outward from him.
Windows shattered.
Dust lifted from the streets as invisible pressure rolled through January like a storm.
Everyone felt it.
Every soldier.
Every watcher.
Every hidden observer beyond the sky.
They all turned their attention to one man.
Aren looked up at the broken sky.
The light inside the fracture pulsed.
Something behind it noticed him.
A presence descended slowly through the tear—shaped like a figure but made of burning white energy.
It did not walk.
It simply appeared closer with every second.
The temperature of the air dropped.
Lyra stepped back instinctively.
"That's not a creature," she whispered.
Aren nodded.
"I know."
The figure finally stopped high above the city.
Then it spoke.
Not with sound.
With pressure.
A voice inside the bones of the world.
"Anomaly located."
The words shook the sky.
"Aren Vale."
Hearing his own name from something beyond the world made the street fall silent.
The entity continued.
"Your existence disrupts the system."
"You will be corrected."
Aren wiped the blood from his lip and looked straight at it.
His voice was quiet.
But fearless.
"Come down here and try."
Above the city, the godlike being slowly began to descend.
And for the first time in centuries…
The watchers felt something unfamiliar.
Uncertainty. ⚡