The drones worked in near silence, their precision arms slicing through overgrown vines and sediment with surgical efficiency. Hovering stabilizers kicked up misty dust as centuries of overgrowth were peeled away, layer by layer.
Adam stood at the edge of the third node site—what they'd unofficially begun calling the Veiled Basin—watching as the structure took shape beneath the debris.
It was smaller than the others, lower to the ground, and more sunken into the earth. But the symbols on the dome—once uncovered—were identical to those on the previous nodes: flowing arcs of energy-etched alloy, touched faintly by a light that seemed to come from within the metal itself.
[NODE STATUS: CLEARED][ACTIVATION READY]
Serin approached from the far side, hands behind their back, watching the drones withdraw.
"This one feels... quiet," they said softly.
Adam nodded. "Like it was waiting."
He stepped forward and pressed his palm to the central interface. The node's outer casing pulsed, its rings shifting outward like a clockwork bloom.
Light flared briefly—subtle, silver-blue, tinged with deeper gold at the edges.
Then the system responded.
[NODE ACTIVATED: 3/??][LINK ESTABLISHED – ENERGY FLOW REALIGNED][UPDATING TOPOLOGICAL SCAN…][NEW SIGNAL DETECTED – PROBABLE NODE LOCATION: COORDINATE RANGE 91-AZ-Theta]
A red triangle blinked onto Adam's holo-map. Deep jungle. Unmapped territory.
No hesitation.
He turned to Serin. "Pack for the fourth."
The fourth node sat within a ruin choked by wild green—ancient stonework overgrown with radiant vines that pulsed faintly with natural magicka. The jungle air was thick and fragrant, dense with the sounds of hidden creatures and the slow buzz of massive wings somewhere in the canopy above.
But beneath all of that, the node pulsed.
Not loudly. Not like a beacon.
More like a heartbeat.
They reached it by midday, descending through cracked terraces and vine-hung arches into a natural stone basin. The dome was already partially exposed, resting in a shallow pool. Moss grew around the edges, glowing faintly where the node's energy brushed against the natural world.
Adam approached slowly, boots sloshing through the water.
[NODE STATUS: INTACT][ACTIVATION READY – SYSTEM LINK SYNCHRONIZED]
No ceremony this time. No doubts.
He placed his hand to the dome.
The water rippled outward in concentric waves as the node flared to life. This one lit gold—not bright, not blinding, but warm and resonant. Like a sun rising slowly over a calm sea.
The interface chimed.
[NODE ACTIVATED: 4/??][PLANETARY SIGNATURE CALIBRATING…][NOTICE: UNKNOWN PHENOMENA REGISTERED – ENVIRONMENTAL HARMONIC SHIFT DETECTED]
Adam pulled his hand away and looked up.
For a moment, nothing seemed different.
Then—on the edge of perception—he felt it.
A change.
The air didn't smell the same. The wind moved differently. Not like the planet had changed entirely—just like something deep within it had turned slightly, shifting its weight. Realigning.
Serin looked around, eyes narrowed. "Did the trees just… breathe?"
"I think the planet just breathed," Adam murmured.
Back in Elysiar, the node interface updated again. Four active. Four stabilized. Lines of flowing energy now connected the points like a completed constellation—circling the city.
Kaela reviewed the data in the Nexus Forge's command center, brow furrowed.
"They're not just power sources," she said to Adam. "They're planetary… anchors. Gateways? Or perhaps keys."
"Keys to what?" Adam asked.
She looked out through the crystal-paneled walls of the forge, watching the sky darken with approaching dusk.
"I don't know," she whispered. "But something just woke up."