The absolute, crushing hydrostatic dome maintained by Caspian and the terrifying localized gravity well anchored by Kael were flawless physical defenses. They successfully forced the breaking bedrock to solidify and kept the atmosphere from shattering into jagged glass.
But the original Architects of the universe did not conquer worlds with physical mass.
In the exact center of the shattered, crystallized courtyard, a single point of blinding, completely silent white light appeared. It did not drop from the glitching crimson grid above, and it did not rise from the boiling earth below. It simply manifested out of absolutely nowhere, forcefully writing itself directly into the local physical space.
The white light rapidly expanded, completely ignoring the ten thousand atmospheres of deep ocean pressure pressing down upon it.
