Chapter 119: The Gathering of Echoes
Summer arrived, and with it, a season of consolidation. The success of the remote reinforcement for the Barrens had proven a crucial principle: the network was not a collection of isolated points, but a living, resonant system. Strength could be shared. But so, they now knew, could vulnerability. The Silence's attempt to weaponize their own connections had been a stark lesson. The work now was to fortify the web itself.
This fortification took a tangible form: the First Gathering.
