The council chamber was silent as Elias gave his answer.
"I'll do it."
Admiral Chen's face remained unreadable, but a flicker of something—relief or dread—passed through her eyes. Dr. Voss exhaled slowly, her fingers tightening around the tablet. Lyra squeezed Elias's hand under the table, and he squeezed back.
"Then we begin preparations immediately," Chen said. "The fragments are moving faster than we anticipated. We have less than twenty-four hours."
"What do we need?" Elias asked, his voice steady despite the churn in his gut.
Voss pulled up the schematic. "The Severance must be performed at the island's core, where the barrier generator is housed. It's the only place with enough ambient psychic resonance to amplify the children's energy. We'll need to clear the area and set up a
