The stars had stopped shifting.
Alex stood on the ridge, his hands raised toward the sky. The power of the Designer flowed through him, reshaping reality, restoring the constellations. But something was wrong. The pattern was incomplete. Flawed. Like a wound that refused to heal.
Sebastian appeared beside him. "The stars are stabilizing. But there's something else. Something I can't explain."
Alex lowered his hands. "I feel it too. Like there's a hole in the universe. A gap that shouldn't exist."
"It's the First. He left something behind. A scar in creation itself."
Alex turned to face him. "Can it be healed?"
Sebastian shook his head. "Not with power alone. It needs something else. Something that existed before the First. Before the Designer. Before everything."
Alex felt a chill r
