There was no mistaking it.
The three flashes reported by the shadows might have come from the newly awakened Primordial Incarnations.
The thought should have made the world feel colder.
Instead, after several breaths, Lucien slowly exhaled.
Then he smiled.
It was not a relaxed smile.
It was not a happy one either.
But it was real.
Lucien's eyes moved to the five-continent map.
The seas remained marked in warning red. Beyond the known side of the world, the map faded into darkness.
That darkness was where the Black Mass waited.
Lucien tapped the northern sea marker once.
"If they were all waking up at the same time, the seas would not have given us three flashes."
His voice was quiet.
"They would have given us the end."
Lucien's gaze sharpened.
The report was terrible.
But it was also information.
And information, no matter how ugly, was better than uncertainty.
The Primordial Incarnations were beginning to stir.
That was bad.
But they were not waking together.
