The convergence did not arrive as a collision.
It came as alignment.
Across the world, events that once appeared isolated began to bend toward one another with quiet inevitability. Independent failures synchronized within seconds. Systems in different countries paused, resumed, and adjusted in the same rhythm. Analysts searched for common causes and found none that fit established models.
But the compass recognized the pattern immediately.
Ethan felt it the moment he woke—its weight different, heavier not with urgency but with direction layered upon direction, as if multiple paths were folding into one. For the first time since the lighthouse activated fully, the needle did not settle after spinning. It hovered, trembling between points.
Not choosing.
Waiting.
In the lighthouse, Lun
