Deep within the secluded sub-level of the obsidian shop, Elias sat motionless, a statue of focused will. His consciousness was a boundless sea, navigating the intricate, sub-atomic pathways of his quantum neurons. He was in the middle of a delicate and painstaking procedure, carefully condensing a million qubits into a single, perfectly stable node of his brain. The process was a silent, internal symphony of cosmic power, a symphony that suddenly and violently broke into a jarring cacophony.
A foreign presence, massive in its scope and utterly malicious in its intent, had just forcefully entered his domain. It wasn't a physical intrusion; it was an invisible, spiritual one. It was a conscious, overwhelming aura, so powerful that it was meant to crush the will of any who stood against it. The maliciousness wasn't directed at him, but at his operation, at Kaelen.
