The fragmented academy no longer shifted. Instead, it waited.
Jay stood alone in the North Spire. Or what remained of it. Half the tower had collapsed during the Null collapse, and yet the structure clung to itself as if stubbornness were mortar.
The wind here did not howl anymore. It whispered—softly, glitching in occasional bursts, carrying echoes of a world that almost was.
He stared at the sealed message again.
> To Jay Arkwell,
If this reaches you, then the fracture has already begun.
There is more you must know about Alicia, about your System, and about what was sacrificed to keep you asleep.
The seal bore Queen Lysandra Renvale's crest. But the magic holding it shut wasn't ordinary. It pulsed with the same algorithmic trace as the Observer nodes like an overwritten command inside his System.
Jay hesitated. "Should I open it now?"
