The ground didn't just shake—it heaved like a living thing in agony. Massive fissures opened across the landscape, each one glowing with the same emerald energy that had powered the elven city. Trees that had stood for centuries toppled into newly formed chasms, their ancient root systems no match for the geological chaos erupting beneath them.
"What the hell is happening to the ground?" Kelvin shouted over the noise, his cybernetic arms automatically extending stabilizers as another violent tremor sent everyone staggering. "This isn't normal seismic activity. The patterns are all wrong!"
Noah felt it through his boots first, then in his bones—a rhythmic pulsing that was definitely not geological. This was something vast stirring to life, something that had been using an entire planet as its shell. Each pulse felt deliberate, purposeful, like a massive heartbeat picking up speed.
