No one smiled.
But no one disagreed.
That was enough.
For now.
Nathan looked down at the frayed page again—the rough, ink-stained diagram, the way the portal was drawn not as a circle, but a wound. Like the page itself had bled to record it.
'A stabilizer.'
It explained how it stayed open so long.
Explained why it hadn't collapsed in on itself when Merlin passed through.
But not where it led.
Not yet.
Nathan rubbed the back of his neck, exhaling through his nose. "Okay. Next steps."
Elara's eyes narrowed slightly, already in planning mode. "Tracking mana signatures from a closed rift isn't simple. Even with the stabilizer's imprint, it would've degraded."
"Unless it was tethered somewhere," Seraphina added. "We need to find where it anchored."
Nathan looked up. "We still have access to the Barrier Management Tower, right?"
Liliana tilted her head. "That's… high-level security."
