Dawn came thin and colorless, a pale wash of light stretching across the encampment without warmth. The air felt colder than the night before, not in temperature but in expectation. No one spoke loudly. Even the early risers moved with restraint, as though sound itself might interfere with whatever would unfold at first light.
The central pavilion had been transformed overnight. The dueling platforms were gone. In their place lay a vast circular formation carved into the stone floor, its concentric rings etched in silver and anchored by crystalline nodes that pulsed faintly in anticipation. The lines were clean. Precise. Imperial.
Resonance scans were not combat.
They were examination.
And examination required silence.
