The moment Amon finished speaking—
Every candle in the basement extinguished simultaneously.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Then came the sound.
Not the distant thunder outside.
Not the rain.
Something deeper.
A low groan reverberated through reality itself, like metal bending beneath impossible pressure.
Elias' spirituality convulsed violently.
The gray fog above his consciousness surged without warning.
Amon looked upward slowly.
"…That was faster than expected."
Celeste swore quietly under her breath.
Steve gripped the table edge, face pale. "Can someone please explain why the ocean sounds angry?"
Because something ancient was moving.
And the world was beginning to notice.
A sudden scream echoed from outside the bookstore upstairs.
Then another.
Car horns blared.
Glass shattered somewhere down the street.
Elias reacted instantly.
"Stay here."
Steve immediately protested. "Absolutely not."
"You're contaminated."
"I'm fine."
"You're bleeding from the nose because a dead god twitched."
"…Okay, when you say it like that it sounds bad."
"Because it is."
Elias rushed upstairs anyway.
The moment he stepped into the bookstore, his eyes narrowed sharply.
The street outside had descended into chaos.
People stood frozen in the rain staring upward.
Some were praying.
Some crying.
Others simply trembling.
Because above Brooklyn—
The clouds had split open.
Not naturally.
A massive spiral stretched across the sky like something had twisted the heavens themselves. Dark storm clouds rotated slowly around a single point directly over the Atlantic horizon.
Lightning flashed within the spiral.
Black lightning.
Elias felt cold settle into his bones.
Conceptual influence.
The dream was leaking.
Behind him, footsteps approached.
Steve.
Of course.
"I said stay downstairs."
"You say lots of things."
Elias almost snapped back before noticing something worse.
Steve was staring at the storm differently than everyone else.
Not with fear.
Recognition.
That immediately alarmed him.
"What do you see?"
Steve blinked slowly.
"…Water."
"That's normal."
"No." Steve frowned harder. "I mean… underneath it."
Elias' heart skipped once.
"What underneath?"
Steve's expression became distant.
"There's chains."
The room went silent behind them.
Celeste and Amon had come upstairs unnoticed.
Amon's smile faded slightly for the first time.
"Well," he murmured quietly. "That complicates things."
Elias turned sharply.
"Why can he see them?"
Amon adjusted his monocle thoughtfully.
"Several possibilities."
"None of which I'm going to like."
"Probably not."
Celeste stepped beside Steve now, her silver eyes glowing faintly as she studied him carefully.
The longer she looked, the more serious her expression became.
Finally, she whispered:
"…Anchor."
Elias immediately looked toward her.
"What?"
But before she could answer—
The radio near the counter exploded into static.
Then voices began speaking through it.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
Layered together in distorted whispers.
People on the street outside screamed.
Some collapsed outright.
A man across the road began clawing at his own face while staring toward the sky.
Spiritual contamination was spreading.
Too fast.
Way too fast.
Elias moved instantly.
"Close your eyes!"
Steve obeyed immediately.
Good.
Training mattered.
Elias snapped his fingers sharply.
A burst of flame ignited from the candles around the bookstore, forming a temporary spiritual barrier against the leaking influence.
Sequence 7 abilities strained immediately under the pressure.
This wasn't enough.
Not even close.
Amon watched calmly from near the doorway.
"You should evacuate the area."
"Thank you for the obvious suggestion."
"You're welcome."
Elias ignored him and focused harder.
Paper figures emerged from his sleeves one after another, igniting into glowing symbols midair.
Illusion.
Misdirection.
Mental stabilization.
The bookstore windows darkened unnaturally as the ritual effects spread outward.
People outside gradually stopped screaming.
Some collapsed unconscious instead.
Better unconscious than insane.
Sweat formed along Elias' forehead.
Maintaining this many effects simultaneously was pushing him dangerously hard.
Celeste noticed immediately.
"You're overextending."
"I know."
"You'll lose control."
"I know."
"Then stop."
"I can't."
Because Steve was here.
Because civilians were outside.
Because if he stopped now—
Things would become irreversible.
The storm above Brooklyn deepened.
Thunder shook the buildings again.
Then—
A crack appeared in the sky.
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
A thin black fracture split across the storm spiral like broken glass.
Everyone who saw it felt instinctive terror.
Even Amon stopped smiling entirely.
"…Interesting," he said softly.
That terrified Elias more than anything so far.
Because Amon rarely reacted genuinely.
Something enormous shifted beneath the Atlantic again.
This time the entire city felt it.
Subway rails screamed underground.
Windows rattled violently.
And far away—
Church bells across Brooklyn began ringing on their own.
Steve suddenly grabbed Elias' arm tightly.
"Someone's coming."
Elias froze.
"What?"
Steve stared toward the street outside.
His pupils had subtly changed.
Not fully transformed.
But deeper somehow.
Like faint stars flickered behind them.
"…He's coming," Steve whispered again.
Amon became completely still.
Celeste's expression turned pale.
Elias slowly followed Steve's gaze toward the rain-covered street outside the bookstore.
At first—
Nothing.
Then a silhouette appeared through the storm.
Walking calmly down the middle of the flooded road.
Every step rippled unnaturally across puddles without disturbing them.
Tall.
Thin.
Wearing black robes.
And carrying a lantern emitting pale blue light.
Nobody else on the street seemed capable of noticing him.
Not civilians.
Not even spiritually disturbed victims.
Only them.
Amon quietly muttered:
"Oh."
Elias had never heard uncertainty in his voice before.
The figure stopped directly outside the bookstore.
Then slowly raised the lantern.
Inside its blue flame—
Elias saw countless human faces screaming silently.
The robed figure tilted its head toward the shop.
Toward Steve.
And spoke in a voice that sounded like drowned corpses whispering together.
"The Sleeper has found its anchor."
Every instinct Elias possessed screamed.
Run.
Now.
But before anyone could react—
Steve suddenly stepped forward.
And answered.
"…I know you."
Silence crashed across the room.
Elias turned sharply toward him.
Steve's face had gone deathly pale.
But his eyes—
His eyes no longer looked entirely human for a brief terrifying second.
The lantern's blue fire intensified.
The robed figure became still.
Then—
Slowly—
It smiled.