At seven in the morning, the peaceful respite of the deep-sea campfire came to an end as the sky tides of the upper world lined up with the Earth’s sharp-angled axis.
The Continental Core Gate awakened.
Deep within the seventy-meter platform of starmetal-veined dense green rock, the ancient world-size circuits began to hum with a sound that looked like a distant, harmonious choir of bronze bells. The four cardinal basins—the black glass of Fire, the dark rock of Earth, the white-gold of Metal, and the living jade of Wood-Water—ignited with brilliant, sustained elemental radiance.
Arthur Vance stood at the edge of the platform, fully equipped in his high-pressure combat gear. His ARC-7 carbine was slung across his chest, his air-powered needle gauntlets were fully loaded with packed silver-aloe and dragon-resin buffers. His Zeiss monocle was tuned to maximum world-size depth.
Beside him, the five beasts assembled in flawless tactical order. Their eyes were bright, alert, and shining with ancient sovereign power.
“Final posture set,” Arthur announced, his voice ringing with total clarity through the squad link. “All four world-size channels are locked at one hundred percent ringing hum. The quarantine array has checked our gene purity. The gate is preparing to unseal the central axis.”
