The light in the containment cell hadn't changed in hours.
Neither had Leon.
He sat on the edge of the metal bench, wrists still cuffed in mana-resistant bindings, though the enchantments had long since dulled. No guards stood watch outside the sealed glass. No interrogators rotated through. No updates. No noise.
Silence had become his only visitor.
The system interface embedded in the wall flickered with lines of scrolling data—city-wide alerts, mana field fluctuations, government warnings. At first, Leon read them out of boredom. Now, he read them because something was changing. Escalating.
Another alert buzzed softly against the silence.
[City Status: Tier 3 Lockdown Initiated – Public Gathering Bans Enforced]
[Atmospheric Rift Detected – Skyfield Disruption Above Capital Perimeter]
[Unknown Mana Signature Detected: Global Classification – Catastrophic]
Leon didn't blink.
