The night air was heavy with anticipation. Ravenspire’s ridge, bathed in moonlight and threaded with stardust, had become a command center of living energy.
Rovan stood at its edge, paws pressing into the earth, sensing the fissure’s pulse echoing through the tether. It was stronger now — deeper, wider, older than anything he had encountered.
Aric’s starfire glimmered faintly beneath his fur, synchronized with the tether’s flow. “They’re moving closer,” he said, eyes fixed on the violet glow emerging across the valley.
Kaerin tightened her grip on her blade. “And we’re ready. But this isn’t just testing. It’s probing.”
Rovan exhaled, letting his silver and stardust veins hum. “Then we anchor. Not strike. Not destroy. Anchor.”
The Approach
The ancient fissure beings advanced, not in a
