The flames surged forward, not just as fire, but as something **greater.** The symbols around him ignited, forming a barrier between the darkness and the city itself. The void recoiled as the flames consumed it, unraveling the tendrils before they could reach him.
And then**the city itself moved.**
Stone shifted, structures bending and reshaping as if responding to an unseen command. Jude could **feel** it now. The connection. The understanding. The power that had always been his.
The void lashed out one last time.
Jude didn't flinch.
He raised his hand, and the city **answered.**
A surge of golden fire erupted from the streets, racing upward, **engulfing** the darkness in a final, blinding wave of light. The void **screamed** as it was pulled backward, the rupture in the sky beginning to close, the wound in reality **sealing.**
And then,
Silence.
The city **settled.**
