The basin remained silent.
For a few breaths, no one moved.
The Keepers had lost.
That truth should have brought sound.
Instead, the battlefield waited.
Everyone had seen the black slit of authority tear into the sky.
Everyone had watched it bend toward the seas.
Everyone had felt the waters answer.
Lucien stood at the center.
Aurelia stared toward the distant horizon.
Her face was pale.
Then she spoke.
"I guess the future can't be avoided after all."
The words were not loud.
But they still crossed the nearest lines like a cold wind.
Several allies turned toward her.
It was one thing for an exhausted soldier to speak in despair.
It was another for a diviner to say it.
Lucien looked at her.
"You saw this?"
Aurelia's lips pressed together.
"Too late."
That answer was worse than denial.
She lowered her gaze toward the broken basin, where the last pieces of the bent array still smoked without fire.
