The peace lasted three weeks.
Marcus stood at the threshold of the clock tower, watching the threads of connection pulse with steady golden light. The oneness was strong. The fragments were healed. The First Anchor was free. Everything was as it should be.
But Marcus felt hollow.
It was a strange sensation—a emptiness that had nothing to do with the connection. His body was whole. His mind was sharp. His purpose was clear. But something inside him was missing. A warmth that had always been there. A feeling that had sustained him through the darkest moments.
He tried to ignore it at first, telling himself it was just exhaustion, just the residue of everything they'd been through. But the feeling persisted, growing stronger with each passing day.
Anna noticed it too. She arrived at the
