The soldiers found nothing.
They combed the eastern boundary in widening arcs. Measured mana density. Inspected bark for gouge marks. Probed soil for residue.
Nothing.
The clearing lay ordinary beneath filtered light.
Insects had resumed in sparse clusters. Small burrows reopened near fallen logs. Even a cautious night-bird perched briefly on a high branch before leaving again.
No wooden figure.
No fracture residue.
No distortion of current.
Only forest.
The captain knelt before the Queen that evening.
"The anomaly is unsubstantiated."
Tharvok stood to the side of the hall, unmoving.
The Queen's gaze did not turn toward him immediately.
"Migration has stabilized?"
"Yes."
"Mana variance?"
Within standard deviation."
Silence.
At last, her golden eyes shifted toward Tharvok.
"You maintain your claim."
"I do."
"You understand there is no proof."
"Yes."
Her claws tapped once against the throne arm.
"Then observation continues."
Not accusation.
Not condemnation.
But distance.
That distance was heavier than doubt.
Tharvok inclined his head and withdrew without further words.
Night settled over Ashkaryn.
Tharvok did not return to his private chamber.
Instead, he stood upon the eastern parapet, staring toward the forest.
The wind carried no scent of corruption.
No trace of decay.
He closed his eyes briefly.
Had the storm's threshold been misaligned?
Had the sacrificial ratio exceeded containment?
He replayed the ritual again...
Every chant.
Every pulse.
Every release.
Flawless.
Yet something had emerged.
If imbalance had been permitted..
It was his failure.
The skull-bound spirits along his staff flickered dimly.
He tightened his grip.
"If correction demands cost," he murmured to the night,
"it will be mine."
The forest did not answer.
Far beyond the walls!!
The clearing no longer felt hostile.
It felt… settled.
The wooden figure stood alone beneath thinning canopy light.
The fractures along its body had faded to faint lines, barely visible beneath smoothened grain.
Mana no longer rushed toward it.
It moved around it.
Accommodating.
The right foot shifted slightly.
The ground beneath compressed without loosening entirely.
Balance recalculated.
The torso leaned forward.
Not dramatically.
Measured.
The left leg adjusted.
The body trembled!!
But did not collapse.
Wind passed through the clearing.
Nothing fled.
Nothing stirred.
The wooden foot lifted.
Fully.
Clear of soil.
For the first time..
There was no immediate instability.
The fractures flickered once-
Then steadied.
The foot hovered.
A long pause.
Longer than any before.
The ground waited.
The forest did not recoil.
The wooden body tilted forward !!
And the foot began to descend.
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Readers season 1 over !!