The presence in the distance grew stronger with each passing day.
Julian felt it in the song of the Shattered One, a discordant thread that pulsed with a rhythm unlike anything he'd encountered before. It wasn't threatening—not exactly. But it was insistent, ancient, and filled with a purpose he couldn't quite understand. It tugged at the edges of his consciousness like a distant memory, something he'd known once but had long since forgotten.
Sarah noticed the change. "You've been distracted again," she said one evening, standing beside him on the hill overlooking the First City. The sun was setting, painting the sky in shades of gold and crimson. The song of the multiverse wove through the air around them, beautiful and eternal. "The song is still beautiful, but you're not fully in it.
