The silence in the library was absolute, broken only by the hum of ancient machinery and the soft rustle of Reia turning a page. She had found it.
"Here," she said, her voice cutting through the stillness.
Evelyn, Silas, and Kaela gathered around the stone table. Reia pointed to a star chart in the ancient text, its ink faded but its shapes unmistakable. It showed a familiar barred spiral galaxy, but with its territories clearly marked in a language long dead.
"The Cradle," Reia breathed. "The heart of the old Aethel domains." Her finger traced a thin, jagged line that cut across the galactic plane, separating the ordered core from the chaotic outer reaches. "The Veil. It was their seat of power. Now..."
Kaela leaned in, her analytical eyes scanning the chart. "Now it's a buffer zone. A permanent war-front between the Diva and the Ashura. Neither side can claim it, so they fight over it. It's the most heavily militarized and monitored region in that entire galaxy."
