Mezos and the Shadows had been guarding until now and got their fill of ether; their expressions clearly relived.
Arik was… looking at the gate.
Liam followed his gaze instinctively.
The structure stood on the upper platform beyond the suspended bridge, tall enough to dwarf the reinforced walkways around it. Dark steel rose in a narrow arch embedded directly into the wall of the chamber, its surface cut through with metallic veins that should have remained dormant.
Instead, they pulsed in the rhythm of Arik's breathing.
The first line brightened slowly near the base the moment Arik stepped fully into the marked zone. Then another answered farther up the frame. A third followed after that, spreading through the old channels like light moving through living arteries.
Liam's breath slowed.
"That was not doing that earlier," Alexander said quietly.
"No," Liam replied automatically, though his attention never left the Gate.
The Vanguard hummed beneath them.
