Months passed.
The Black Mass continued to recede.
Aurelia still saw no sign that the greater war was about to begin, but the quiet she had warned Lucien not to trust never truly returned.
The incursions kept coming.
Sometimes they appeared several days apart. Sometimes weeks passed before Tidewatch detected another movement.
There was no reliable pattern to the timing, the direction, or the composition of the forces sent toward the five continents.
One attack might emerge from the eastern seas with several Monster Emperors leading a dense mass of corrupted beasts. The next might appear far to the north with fewer creatures but heavier concentrations of miasma.
Then nothing would happen for long enough that people began wondering whether the attacks had stopped.
That was usually when another one appeared.
At first, Lucien assumed the randomness was intentional.
