It was dawn in the Meadowlands.
The elders had already gathered when the first light touched the Sacred Peaks.
They sat in a loose semicircle near an old stone terrace, a fire bourgeoning on the pit, with a teapot brewing on the side.
No one spoke at first.
They simply watched the flames flicker.
The blood moon had brought them together, for the next cycle was near.
Something happened a few nights before, causing the sky to have hues of crimson.
The elder woman cleared her throat, and the others paid attention.
She lowered herself to the ground and pressed her palm flat against the earth.
"The blood moon cycle is almost here," she said.
A quiet breeze moved through the group. They all wrapped in blankets, something customary for sitting at a fire.
One of the elder men swallowed. "Any news of the betrothal?"
The old woman's gaze hardened, as if this hadn't been discussed enough. She lifted her hand from the soil, and a thin line of dust clung to her palm like it did not want to let go.
Somewhere beyond the Peaks, the wind shifted. The grass leaned in a different direction, as if it were reaching for the sky.
"The Princess is still showing some resistance," she replied.
"Then we must intervene," said an elder man.
The elders agreed in unison. They hardly ever argued.
Back in Neillis Redcliff Industrial, there was a lot of panic among the residents.
It started as whispers between labourers changing shifts, as glances exchanged over consoles, as a technician pausing mid-task to stare up at the dome as if expecting it to crack again.
Akhile felt the tension when she entered Redcliff Pharma, when two workers behind her in the corridor discussed the crack in the sky.
"I swear I saw it, it was red."
"That's impossible."
"How do you explain the power cut and the 12-second downtime?" said the labourer. "The system has a missing 12s, where nothing was recorded."
"I don't care what the system says."
"Man, we went off the radar."
Akhile kept walking, but she felt shivers all over her body.
But most people were talking about the same thing, the same image, the same impossible detail.
The red fracture in the sky.
When she passed a collection of screens near the entrance, she saw the updated headline rotating on the company's internal feed:
SKY DOME DIAGNOSTICS: 12s downtime- unaccounted for- Total downtime- 6 minutes.
The words were clean.
Moira approached her just as she reached the elevators.
"Princess Cora," she said, tablet tight against her chest as usual. "Mr Redcliff has requested you attend the morning brief."
Akhile didn't miss the slight tension in Moira's shoulders. The careful way her eyes flickered around the corridor as if she expected someone to pop out of the shadows.
Akhile stared at her. "Did you see it?"
Moira blinked. "See what?"
"The sky," Akhile pressed. "The red streak."
Moira's lips parted, then closed again. She glanced at the nearest camera lens reflexively.
"I saw… and people are talking," she said carefully. "But the systems show no explanation."
Akhile's gaze sharpened.
"So, what- you didn't see it?"
Moira's voice dropped. "I didn't look up or go outside."
That was honest in a way Akhile hadn't expected, and she understood it immediately.
Some people survived Neilelis Industrial by not questioning anything.
Akhile stepped into the elevator and Moira followed.
The doors sealed. Floor 50.
Akhile watched her own reflection in the mirrored panel.
For a moment, she half expected to see that double image again.
She didn't.
But her temple pulsed anyway, as if it was provoked by the image that wasn't there.
Akhile's first slip happened that evening.
It was not in public, or not in front of Moira.
Not in Nathaniel's office.
It happened at the estate, where the walls were designed to make you feel safe.
Akhile had been walking back from the dining hall after a silent supper she barely tasted. Nathaniel hadn't joined, he was busy, as always. Tobias had smiled gently as if nothing in the sky mattered.
Akhile had told herself she would take a shower and sleep early.
She remembered reaching the corridor junction that split toward her wing, and remembered the motion lights blooming ahead of her.
She remembered thinking very briefly that the air felt heavier than usual.
And then…
Nothing.
No transition.
Just an absence.
Akhile blinked and found herself standing somewhere else.
A different corridor.
The east corridor.
Norman's side of the Estate.
She was holding a ribbon in her hand.
A thin, pale green, the colour of Meadowlands curtains. Soft as pressed silk, slightly frayed at one edge, like it had been handled too many times.
Akhile stared at it. Her chest tightened.
She didn't own a ribbon like this.
She hadn't picked anything up.
She didn't remember walking to this part of the estate.
She didn't remember deciding to stand still.
She didn't remember the last five minutes at all.
Her temples pulsed once again, and then…quiet.
Akhile swallowed hard.
Her fingers tightened around the ribbon as if it might disappear if she loosened her grip.
Footsteps echoed faintly in the distance.
Akhile panicked.
She shoved the ribbon into her pocket quickly, smoothing her face into neutral calm like she was preparing for a meeting.
A door opened somewhere down the hall.
Akhile forced herself to walk, not to run. Not to look guilty.
The motion lights followed her, obedient again.
But she felt it now.
The estate was not tracking her perfectly anymore.
Or perhaps it was, and it simply couldn't track who was inside her at any given moment.
She returned to her apartment wing and locked herself in.
Then she took the ribbon out and held it under the light.
It smelled faintly of dried grass.
Not Neillis air…but the Meadowlands.
Akhile's throat tightened.
"How did you get here?" she whispered to it.
No answer.
Nathaniel received the message the next morning.
It was sealed and hand delivered.
Tobias entered Nathaniel's office suite with a small envelope on a silver tray, his posture perfect, face unreadable.
Nathaniel looked up from the screen.
His gaze narrowed immediately.
"What is that?" he asked.
"A courier from the Meadowlands, sir," Tobias said quietly. "They insisted it be delivered to you directly."
Nathaniel rose and took the envelope.
His fingers tightened around it as if he already knew what the letter would say.
He broke the seal cleanly and unfolded the paper.
Read.
His expression didn't shift much.
But something in the room tightened anyway, like the walls themselves were holding their breath.
The letter contained only one line.
Proceed with preparations. The cycle has resumed.
Nathaniel stared at the words for a long moment.
Then he folded the paper slowly and placed it back into the envelope as if putting a weapon away.
He looked like a man who had just been confirmed in a fear he'd been pretending not to have.
Nathaniel lifted his gaze to the window.
For a brief second, the maroon sky outside looked too smooth.
Too calm.
Nathaniel's jaw tightened.
"Call Moira," he said.
Tobias bowed. "Yes, sir."
Nathaniel didn't sit back down.
He stayed standing, staring at the sky as if he could intimidate it into obedience.
But deep beneath his control, beneath his calm, beneath his certainty, something else had begun.
Something he had been preparing for.