The sky cracked open.
Not from light.
From order.
The heavens had been cornered. Afraid. And so they did what they had once sworn never to do. They sent the Last Command.
A figure descended in silence.
Taller than the rest. Robes of starlight, laced with gold chains. Its face was a mirror reflecting nothing. Where it passed, the other envoys dropped to their knees. Not in respect. In obedience.
This was the First Warden.
It carried the original verdict:
Erase the Gate. Erase its fire. Erase those who remembered.
Elara felt it before Tian did. Inside the Gate, her breath caught. The glyphs on her skin flickered. She closed her eyes. The Gate itself began to tremble. Not from the Warden's power. From memory. From fear.
It remembered what had broken it. And Elara was now its soul.
Her voice broke. Tian turned.
"Elara."
She opened her eyes.
"They are sending everything."
"You need to step back."
"I cannot."
"You will break."
"Then I will break."
