The fracture did not begin with a siege. It wasn't the result of Kael'thar's vanguard breaking the lines, nor a sudden invasion from the traditionalist zones.
It came from within.
It started among the very beings who had fought beside Lord—those who had broken their own limits, stepped out of their classifications, and chosen freedom. Now, staring into the boundless, terrifying expanse of that freedom, some of them were beginning to blink.
Uru felt it first. It manifested as a faint, dissonant tremor in the cosmic substrate. She closed her eyes, reaching out with her senses to trace the anomaly, expecting to find a tear in reality or an incoming attack. Instead, she found something far more insidious.
Doubt.
She found Lord in the dim warmth of the Hatchery, quietly watching over the slumbering new dragons. His golden eyes were already unfocused, staring into a middle distance that she couldn't see. He had felt it, too.
