Day forty-three.
The Palace was quiet in the late evening. The hatchlings had been sent to rest in their chambers. The healers had completed their final checks on Lord and Yuki, noting that both were in excellent health. Yuki was asleep in her chamber. Owen sat in the courtyard, watching the stars emerge as the dual suns finished setting.
Gorvax was in the observation chamber, maintaining his constant meditation.
Everything felt normal. Stable. The quiet month had settled into a routine that almost felt sustainable.
Then, at precisely midnight, everything changed.
Lord's pulse was not like the first one. It was not a consequence of his birth—a signature bleeding into the cosmos involuntarily. This was intentional. Deliberate. A focused burst of cosmic energy that radiated outward from the Palace with precision and purpose.
The pulse lasted exactly three seconds.
