They left the research site before the sun fully rose.The blue glow still hung in the sky, thin but constant, like a stain that would not fade. Caleb walked first, following the narrow road that curved north between dead trees. The ground felt firm again, but the hum was stronger than before. It no longer came only from beneath the soil. It moved through the air, soft and even, like a signal spread too wide to track.Dr. Hale walked behind Caleb. He looked worse in daylight. His face was pale, his eyes sunken, his hands shaking when he adjusted the strap of his bag. He had not slept. None of them had.Nora stayed close to Luke. The boy was quiet, watching the trees as they passed. Every so often he tilted his head, as if listening to something the others could not hear.Dylan brought up the rear. He scanned the forest, rifle held low. He had stopped asking questions. The answers were never good.The road climbed slowly. The farther north they went, the stranger the land became. Grass

They did not rest long.The city behind them stayed quiet, but Caleb could feel it watching. The hum no longer chased them. It followed at a distance, steady and patient, like it already knew where they were going.The road north bent east, climbing into broken hills. The land grew rougher. Trees thinned. The soil darkened and cracked in long lines that glowed faint blue at night.Dr. Hale walked slower now. He leaned on a metal rod he had taken from the barrier. His breathing was shallow, controlled.“This terrain was never meant to hold the field,” he said quietly.Caleb glanced back. “Meaning.”“The pulse was anchored in the valley. Everything else is strain. That is why it builds structures. Towers. Cities. It needs shape.”“And the origin site,” Dylan said. “That is its core shape.”“Yes,” Hale said. “Or the closest thing it has to one.”They passed through a stretch of forest where every leaf pointed the same direction. No wind moved them. They did not shift when touched.Nora b