The second trial did not descend from the heavens in a blaze of judgment.
It did not fracture the sky or tear open space with celestial fire.
It came quietly.
It came from within.
Three nights after the orbital ring dissolved into harmless motes of drifting starlight, the Convergence Node began vibrating in a way Ethan had never experienced before. He was seated within the Frostfire Citadel's upper chamber—a vast circular hall suspended above the mountain spine of the northern range—when the sensation struck.
It wasn't instability.
It wasn't corruption.
It wasn't external interference pressing against the barrier of the world.
It was replication.
A subtle echo rippled through his chest, like a second heartbeat misaligned by half a breath. The seven pillars surrounding the chamber—vast conduits of Frostfire, Storm, Flame, Shadow, Sea, Gravity, and the Seventh Domain—flickered simultaneously.
Then they echoed.
For a fraction of a second—
There were fourteen.
