***
Two days later.
Despite severe limitations in manpower, resources, and infrastructure, Lotus City managed to assemble a fighting force.
It was far from a perfect army, lacking advanced equipment and elite training, but it existed—and under the circumstances, that alone was an achievement.
In total, fifty combat units stood ready to be deployed to the battlefield.
Each unit represented sacrifice: exhausted fighters, limited supplies, and citizens who had chosen to stand their ground rather than flee.
Lyra had returned to Lotus City the day before.
The reason was simple but terrifying. Reports had begun to circulate—consistent, detailed, and impossible to ignore—that a large-scale war was no longer a distant threat.
It was approaching, steadily and relentlessly.
When Lyra passed through the city gates, she slowed her steps. Her gaze lifted almost instinctively, drawn toward the horizon.
There it was.
The canyon.
Her people had secured it.
