The messenger arrived not with gunships, but in a single, unarmed shuttle that landed just outside Dawnspire's perimeter. From it emerged a single Reforged Vakhas, like Kaelen but newer, sleeker. It carried no weapons.
Its voice was a smooth, synthetic copy of Malakor's. "The Architect extends an invitation. He has observed your resilience. Your integration of the antithesis is noted as a unique evolutionary step. You are invited to witness the dawn of a new, ordered age at the Singing Canyons. Your presence is requested for… harmonization."
It was a trap. An obvious, arrogant trap.
But it was also a declaration of war on a new front. Malakor was no longer hiding his plans.
"He's telling us where he's building his weapon," Elara said. "Daring us to stop him."
"He believes his new design is impervious," Kaelen analyzed. "Or he wants to study Skodar's reaction in a controlled environment."
Skodar stared at the messenger, feeling the cold, hollow echo of its existence. "Tell your architect we decline his invitation to chains. But tell him we will come to the Singing Canyons. Not as guests, but as wreckers."
The messenger nodded, as if this was also an acceptable data point, and returned to its shuttle.
The council was divided. Attacking a known, fortified construction site was suicidal. But letting Malakor complete his Chorus meant the end of everything they were.
"We cannot face his army head-on," Kira stated. "Even with my Yunvarn and the Stonewardens, we are outnumbered a thousand to one."
"Then we don't fight the army," Skodar said, his mind working, the scars on his skin glowing faintly as he accessed the Stone's new adaptive memory. "We fight the idea. We fight the machine. Elara, Kaelen—what is the one thing a perfectly logical, large-scale system needs?"
Elara's eyes lit up. "A control node. A central processor. A single point of failure."
Kaelen nodded. "The Chorus will have a Conductor's Core. Likely defended by layers of security. But if it is breached, the entire harmonic structure would collapse into dissonance. It would be… catastrophic for the system."
"A surgical strike," Makosra said. "Like trying to pluck the heart from a steel giant."
"We find the core. We break it. We get out," Skodar said. "But we need more than us. We need eyes everywhere. We need the 'web of echoes' we created." He looked at Vaktari. "The pulse you sent… can we send another? Not a awakening, but a call. A call for those who felt that memory to… look. To listen. To share what they see."
Vaktari smiled, a radiant, hopeful thing. "A network of whispers. Built on trust, not control. The opposite of his Chorus. Yes. We can."