After the battle, Orion opened the sealed map room.No elder objected.Carl entered slowly, one hand pressed to his healing side. Sophia walked beside him carrying her translated notes. Aiden and Arcturus followed.Seven maps floated above a stone table.Earth occupied only one.The others showed worlds joined by lines of flame.Orion touched the map with two moons.“Varynthia.”The image expanded.Mountain cities rose above crimson forests. Rivers of light crossed black plains. Dragon towers surrounded a gate shaped like the crystal beneath the sanctuary.Carl studied the world his father had left.“Earth is only half the conflict.”“Less than half,” Orion said.“The Council rules here.”“The Council governs exiles, descendants, and those who profit from hiding. Varynthia holds older houses, older laws, and the origin of the war Jackson never finished.”Aiden stared at the map.“You knew gateways survived.”“We knew possibilities survived.”Sophia placed the three-circle stone at the

Livestock disappeared first.Farmers found broken fences, burned grass, and tracks wider than a human chest. Local officers blamed thieves until the remains of thirty cattle appeared along a riverbed, stripped of blood but not flesh.Then an entire village stopped answering calls.The settlement stood three hours from the sanctuary's northern range. Fewer than two hundred people lived there.By sunrise, every road leading into it had been blocked by fallen trees.A rescue team entered on foot.Only one person returned.The survivor spoke of wings that covered the moon and a body moving through smoke. His clothes were burned, yet his skin carried frost.Hospitals recorded his statement as trauma-induced confusion.By noon, three governments had issued the same denial using different words.No unidentified creature existed.No connection had been established between the village and the earthquakes.Online, shaky videos spread faster than officials could remove them. A shadow passed over