Five years after the first Territorial Assembly, the message arrived on a storm-lashed morning that would have been unremarkable except for the impossible nature of what it contained.
I was reviewing proposals for the expansion of inter-territorial trade routes when Marcus burst into the council chamber, his face pale with the kind of shock that came from encountering something that challenged fundamental assumptions about the world.
"Selene, you need to see this immediately," he said, clutching a communication crystal that pulsed with an unfamiliar energy signature. "It's from... well, you'll see."
I accepted the crystal, noting its strange weight and the way it seemed to vibrate with barely contained power. When I activated it, the voice that emerged was speaking in our language but w
