The war-room lights flickered as the transmission paused. The arcane relay stone on the side console pulsed once—amber light indicating a secondary override.
Another voice joined the channel—this time, not from Blackridge, but from Association Command Headquarters. Crisp. Formal. And laced with confusion barely masked beneath protocol.
Arlan's projection stabilized again. He nodded once, jaw set. "Affirmative. Gate integrity reads normal. Mana cohesion patterns are within standard tolerances. However—no ingress possible. No reactive signatures to approach, invocation, or direct interfacing. It's... inert."
A pause.
Then: "That's not possible."
Serrina, still standing beside Varent, turned slightly toward the voice. "Apparently it is."
"The gate exists, its readings are active, it has an anchoring presence in both physical and mana space—but it does not open?"
