The Sovereigns did not return with light.
They returned with pressure.
It pressed against the Core World like a silent tide, unseen by the billions living below, yet felt by everyone who carried even the faintest awareness of reality's deeper layers. The sky did not turn black. The stars did not shift. But something within the fabric of existence tightened, as if time itself had begun to hold its breath, waiting for a heart to stop beating.
Vahn was in the private chamber beside Valen's room when the pressure arrived. It didn't feel like an intrusion; it felt like an inevitability, like the shadow of a mountain finally reaching the valley floor.
Celestine felt it a heartbeat later. She was standing by the doorframe, and her hand tightened around the stone until her knuckles turned a stark, bone-white.
"They are here," she said, her voice a ghost of a whisper. "They're actually back."
