The Wilderness had gone quiet in the way a held breath is quiet.
Dust still drifted down from the broken ruins, glittering in the pale light that leaked through the half-open gate. Beyond the crack in the seal, something vast shifted in the dark. Aether felt it more than he saw it, a pressure that settled against his ribs and made the air taste of old iron.
Then the voice came, slow and heavy, rolling out of the gate like thunder dragged across stone.
"Return what is mine."
Behind Aether, the crystal chamber hummed softly. Inside it, the newborn beast lay curled in a nest of faint light, no larger than a loaf of bread. Its tiny body trembled with every word that fell from the gate. The clock-shaped mark on its forehead flickered, twelve broken lines circling it like cracked teeth.
Kael stepped up beside Aether, his dark cloak still stirring from the shockwave of the seal's opening. His voice dropped to a whisper. "Don't answer it."
