Three days after Uru emerged from the Tower, the first suppressed reality broke through.
Not a breach like before—small, localized, unstable. This was a rupture. A tear in the cosmic substrate wide enough to swallow a moon.
It happened in unclaimed space, far from any major civilization. No warnings. No precursor tremors. One moment, the void was empty. The next, a wound in reality was bleeding light that didn't exist in any known spectrum.
Lord felt it immediately. He was in the Hatchery, watching the new generation of eggs pulse, when his gold eyes went distant.
"It's starting," he said.
Uru, sitting beside him, felt it too. Her connection to the cosmic substrate—newly awakened, still sharpening—screamed with the impact.
"Something's coming through," she said.
"Many things."
---
Owen met them in the courtyard. Gorvax was already there, his ancient face grim.
