The sky was broken.
Brandon and KJ stood on a high ridge, staring at the unnatural clouds swirling over the distant horizon. Black lightning arced across the sky without thunder. The wind didn't blow — it pressed, like the air itself was leaning in.
"That's where they are," Brandon said, nodding toward the spire of light stabbing upward through the chaos. "That's where the others are."
KJ didn't answer right away. The mark on his arm pulsed beneath his sleeve — not in pain this time, but with a strange, rhythmic certainty. Like it knew something he didn't.
"You sure?" he asked finally.
Brandon adjusted the strap on the crystal-forged blade slung across his back. "I've been tracking them since I got here. I don't know what that tower is, but whatever just woke up? It's tied to your mark. And them."
⸻
They moved quickly through the forest, cutting through twisted roots and trees that pulsed with a strange red glow. KJ's steps were heavy — not from exhaustion, but from pressure.
"Do you ever wonder why we ended up here?" he asked.
Brandon didn't slow down. "All the time."
"You don't remember how it happened either?"
Brandon shook his head. "I remember flashes. Light. Noise. Then darkness."
He glanced at KJ with a half-grin.
"But I also remember knowing exactly what I had to do."
KJ raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? What's that?"
Brandon smirked. "Find you."
⸻
The forest thinned. The wind changed.
And then, just ahead, the treetops opened into a clearing — the Hollowed Ring.
The spire at the center pulsed like a heartbeat. The air buzzed with pressure. Shoto and Elizabeth were already there — standing near the pedestal, alert.
Brandon stopped beside KJ and looked down toward them. "Told you."
Then his eyes narrowed.
From the opposite side of the clearing, three more people emerged from the trees.
Strangers.
And KJ whispered, "We're not alone anymore."