West's gaze snapped northward, his hand tightening around hers. She felt it too—the air trembling, taut with magic that hadn't touched this plane in centuries. From beyond the hills, a deep hum thrummed through the earth. Not a song, not a spell, but a summoning.
Sebastian cursed under his breath. "That's Rift magic."
Levi's posture shifted instantly, shoulders tensing, fingers twitching toward the runeblade at his hip. "It's too soon. The ley-lines just settled—this shouldn't be possible."
But it was.
The ground beneath their feet cracked with sudden force, a web of glowing fissures radiating outward like veins of molten starlight. West pushed Frost behind him instinctively as a tear in the air split open before them, reality warping with a sound like shattering glass submerged in water.
From the rift stepped a figure.
