The silence that followed Julian’s threat was mechanical and chilling. The drones hovering above the ceramic base adjusted their pitch, emitting a sound that felt like teeth gnashing against glass. Julian did not retreat. He held the spark of fire in his palm, a defiant flicker of ancient life against the clinical coldness of the human technology.
He could feel the amber pulse of Draconia begging him to release the energy, to crush the invaders with a wave of seismic force, but he hesitated. He remembered the General’s words about the gravitational anchor. To destroy the tether would be to tear a hole in the very world he had labored to heal.
The voice from the base returned, devoid of any warmth. It identified itself as Director Halloway and explained that the extraction site was non-n
