Chapter 1405: Uneasy Feelings
Erend stepped through the portal and vanished from Drakenmere.
Moments later he appeared high above the world where no eyes could reach him. The location was far beyond the recovering kingdoms below and far beyond the cities that still struggled to rebuild after the invasion.
Even Eccar, Aesa, and Sylven were nowhere nearby. Erend deliberately isolated himself. He needed a moment away from everyone else because the feeling that had appeared inside his mind refused to disappear. He needed to think.
The invasion had ended. The portals had been destroyed. The kingdoms were beginning to stabilize. Everything should have been moving toward recovery.
But the uneasy sensation only continued growing stronger with every passing second.
The wind roared around him as he hovered high above the clouds. His crimson Dragon wings remained spread wide behind him, holding him motionless in the air while he stared toward the endless horizon.
The world below looked peaceful from this height, but that peace felt false. Something deep inside him refused to accept that the danger had truly passed.
"Veyrun."
The familiar voice answered almost immediately from within his soul.
"Yes. Erend."
For several moments Erend remained silent while pondering, before finally asking the question that had been troubling him ever since he left King Valor behind.
"Have you noticed anything strange?"
A brief pause followed before Veyrun answered.
"No. My attention has remained focused on protecting your soul and the System’s power from the Void Architect’s influence. I have spent my efforts maintaining those defenses and preventing any attempt to reach you through the connection."
The answer failed to ease Erend’s concerns. He frowned while continuing to stare across the sky.
"So nothing unusual?"
"Nothing that I could immediately identify as a threat."
Erend slowly sighed. The response only reinforced the frustration growing inside him.
The feeling remained there. It sat in the back of his mind.
"What do you think the Void Architect will do next?"
This time Veyrun did not answer immediately. The silence stretched much longer than before.
"I do not know," he finally admitted. "The Void Architect exists beyond many of the limitations that once governed the System. Predicting its actions is difficult. There is simply not enough information for me to determine its next move with certainty."
Erend closed his eyes briefly before opening them again.
"I don’t like that answer," Erend said.
"Neither do I."
The honesty surprised him. Veyrun rarely admitted uncertainty so openly.
Erend lowered his gaze toward the lands hidden beneath the clouds. His instincts continued warning him that something remained unfinished.
"I feel like something hasn’t happened yet," he said quietly. "The invasion ended too quickly. The portals are gone. The kingdoms survived. But it doesn’t feel finished."
He felt the sensation inside his chest tightened.
"It feels like we’re missing something. Like the Void Architect is still preparing a move that we haven’t seen yet."
Again silence occurred between them. This time, however, Erend felt something unusual through the connection linking him to Veyrun. It was difficult to explain.
He could not hear thoughts directly, nor could he read Veyrun’s mind. Yet he sensed intense concentration. It felt like standing beside someone while they worked through an impossibly complex problem.
Countless calculations seemed to move through the connection. Endless possibilities were being examined and discarded.
Perhaps it was because Veyrun remained so deeply connected to his soul. Perhaps it was because Veyrun constantly guarded his System and existed closer to him than almost anyone else ever could.
Whatever the reason, Erend could feel that Veyrun was analyzing everything.
So he just waited there patiently.
Minutes passed while he remained suspended above the world. His Dragon wings held him steady against the wind as he hovered motionless among the clouds. The uneasiness never faded. If anything, it continued growing stronger.
Finally Veyrun spoke again. "Erend."
Immediately Erend straightened instinctively. "What is it?"
"I found something."
The seriousness in Veyrun’s voice caused Erend’s stomach to tighten. "What did you find?"
"I detected a massive energy wave moving through the worlds."
Erend’s eyes narrowed immediately. "Where did it came from?" He asked.
"I cannot determine the source yet. The signal remains obscured and fragmented. However, I can still detect its movement."
A cold feeling spread through Erend’s chest.
Veyrun continued. "Based on the characteristics of the energy, the most likely origin is the Void Architect."
For several seconds Erend said nothing.
The moment those words reached him, the uneasiness that had haunted him since speaking with King Valor finally made sense.
The warning had not been imagination. His instincts had not been overreacting. Something truly was happening.
He slowly clenched his fists.
"Just as I thought," he said. His voice carried both anger and dread. "The Void Architect was never going to accept defeat like this."
His gaze hardened as he stared into the distant horizon.
The invasion had failed. The portals had been destroyed. The kingdoms had survived. Now they only need to finish the formula to rewrite the Sky Anchor so it cannot be used by the Void Architect.
Yet an enemy like the Void Architect would never place everything on a single attack. It would never commit all of its resources to one plan and simply give up when that plan failed.
—
Somewhere beyond the world, hidden within the impossible darkness where the entity existed, something was moving.
Something powerful enough for even Veyrun to struggle identifying.
Something significant enough to trigger every warning instinct Erend possessed from so far away across dimensions.
—
A heavy silence settled around Erend while he was thinking alone in that vast expanse of the sky.
"What are you preparing now?" Erend asked quietly, mostly to himself.
The wind carried the question away into the endless sky, but no answer came.
Deep down, however, Erend already knew one thing with absolute certainty.
The invasion they had just survived had not been the true battle.
It had only been the beginning. He needs to urge the Archmages to hurry and finish the formula.
—
