The Labyrinth Grove pulsed with power so immense that, for a fleeting instant, the whole of Anbord quivered.
Yet no one noticed. The tremor passed like a whisper beneath their feet, dismissed as nothing more than a passing breeze. The empire remained alive and bustling under the afternoon sun, the hour striking 12:00, a time when the great cities were at their liveliest.
Merchants haggled with boisterous smiles, students hurried across magnetically levitating walkways, and sleek transport skiffs zipped through the sky lanes above. The Skyline Veins, glowing threads of blue-white energy, pulsed through the air like living rivers, connecting towering arcologies, markets, and hubs together.
But beneath that calm surface, everyone was talking about one thing.
The Emperor's announcement.
The morning press conference had swept through the entire empire like wildfire. Screens suspended over floating plazas replayed it on loop. Media feeds were ablaze. Social spheres had ignited.
