The pressure in the sky gathered shape.
What had been a distant awareness became visible motion. Ten streaks cut through the upper air like falling verdicts.
Astraea's storm rose around her shoulders.
Vaelcar's Oathbound Monolith hummed.
The others stepped forward as one.
Just then...
Kaia raised her hands, palms open.
"Please wait," she said. "They are not enemies. At least, not the ones in front."
Astraea turned her head slightly.
"In the void, mistaken mercy is a grave you dig while smiling."
Vaelcar did not lower his Monolith.
"If your certainty is thin," he said, "speak it now, so I may decide whether to trust it or bury it."
Kaia swallowed. Her eyes flicked up again, following the ten falling figures.
"They are part of our organization," she said. "They recognized us. They would not descend in a rush like this unless they did."
As if her words had been a trigger, the ten presences accelerated.
The air shrieked. The atmosphere brightened in slashes of pale light.
