Chapter 21
The sky split open slowly, unnaturally, as if something unseen was forcing the world itself apart. At first, it was only a thin crack in the clouds, a dark line stretching across the battlefield, easy to mistake for nothing more than a trick of light. Then it widened. The edges pulled back under invisible pressure, the air bending around it as though reality itself was struggling to hold. Darkness poured from the tear, not smoke or shadow, but something deeper and older, something that felt alive in a way that made the world recoil. The battlefield fell silent. Hundreds of dragons froze midair, their massive wings suspended as every creature turned toward the sky, instinct overriding instinct, fear replacing fury.
