The black cloth didn't darkened the world.
Through the Eye of Insight, the land no longer appeared as it truly was, but as layers of monochrome interference–muted, restrained, filtered through shadow. Kiaria lowered himself and pressed his ring-wearing hand to the ground.
The touch was deliberate.
The Yaksha Ring responded.
A faint pulse spread outward, and from within the ring, Fei emerged. Her form did not fully manifest, yet her antennae extended, vibrating sharply as they resonated with the land.
Within seconds, motion across nearly half a mile was mapped.
Every disturbance.
Every absence.
Every unnatural stillness.
Fei vibrated her antennae again.
The waves did not travel outward.
They traveled inward–directly toward their King.
Kiaria stiffened.
For the first time, without study or preparation, the vibration resolved itself into meaning. He understood the message without translation, without learning.
It was not language.
It was recognition.
