The tranquility of the Origin Verse was not broken by a sound, but by a sudden, absolute silence. On the sapphire sands of Solis, the singing shells fell mute. The three suns overhead did not dim, yet their light felt abruptly thin, as if the very substance of the photons was being weighed against a much heavier reality.
Aegis stood up from the driftwood log, his hand instinctively finding the hilt of a weapon that was no longer there. Beside him, Bella rose with the grace of a hunting tigress, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the zenith of the sky. Lyra and Caelum dropped from the air, landing softly but with tense expressions, sensing the shift in the fundamental frequency of their father's world.
