The dimensional rupture tore through Reed's consciousness like a serrated blade. He collapsed to his knees, blood streaming from his nostrils and ears, staining the crystalline floor beneath him. Every cell in his body recognized the catastrophic event that had just occurred countless realities away.
"The Ninth Tower..." he gasped, his voice a hoarse whisper. "It's gone."
Shia rushed to his side, her silver-etched skin glowing with anxiety. "Gone? What do you mean gone?"
Reed's eyes rolled back, revealing bloodshot whites as his consciousness stretched across the dimensional void. "Not destroyed. Erased. Lania activated Protocol Starfall." He coughed, flecks of crimson spattering the front of his tattered robes. "The Anchor Stone's collapse created a perfect nullspace—a wound in reality that cannot be healed or traversed."
