The following morning, the skies above Shinzai were eerily silent. No wind, no birds—just a strange tension in the air, as if the world itself was holding its breath.
Inside Nova Tower, Kael stood before a translucent display of cosmic readings—fragments of data from Azephon's scans. They had been static for weeks. But now…
"They're moving again," Kael muttered, narrowing his eyes.
Just then, the doors opened with a burst of urgency. Liora entered, carrying a sleeping Kiyomi in her arms.
Kael turned instantly. "What happened?"
Liora's voice was tight. "She had a vision last night. Not just any dream—this one was touched by the entity itself."
Kael's expression darkened. "It spoke to her?"
"She said… it told her she's not ready yet. It knew who she was."
Kael's jaw clenched. "Then we've run out of time."
As Liora gently laid Kiyomi down on the medic bed, Azephon entered the room, his cloak soaked from the outside storm. "I felt the ripple. It wasn't just her dream—it tried to cross over."
Kael turned toward him. "So it's already testing our plane?"
Azephon nodded grimly. "It's looking for weak points. Kiyomi's bloodline—being a hybrid of celestial and human—made her an ideal channel."
Kael took a breath. "How long until it tries again?"
"Next time, it won't be through a dream. It will breach through someone else. Maybe not her… but someone close."
The silence hung heavy.
Liora looked toward Kael. "She's not even strong enough to hold a blade yet."
Kael walked over to the console and activated a comms link. "Get Renzo, Jinsei, and Maiya. Full alert. Training resumes in thirty minutes. No more soft sessions. If this thing is poking around now… our kids are already in danger."
Liora stared out the window, whispering, "It's coming faster than we thought."
As the dark clouds rolled in, and thunder cracked over Shinzai, one thing became clear:
The new generation wouldn't just inherit peace.
They would inherit war.