The observer came through the upper cut of the ravine as a concentrated distortion in the air, visible now even to ordinary sight. At thirty-four percent coherence it no longer needed a host to hold structure. It moved with clear intent, a straight line through stone and residual scarring toward the central node where the circle waited.
Lydia activated the containment framework the moment the signature entered the outer lattice. Layered disruption and temporal damping snapped into a dome around the approaching distortion. The observer struck the dome and slowed, its incomplete structure spreading against the resistance like water under sudden pressure. It did not stop.
