Aether stood silently on the edge of the balcony, his gaze distant as he received fragmented reports from his puppets—updates on what had unfolded in the past three days.
His puppets had been deployed across nearly every empire, scattered like seeds to gather knowledge. Every empire except... Aurora and the Void Empire.
For reasons beyond him, he still couldn't establish contact with either of them.
That was troubling.
He would have to investigate that matter soon. As for the others—Naiadae Empire, where he was currently staying—everything seemed normal. No hostile movements. No internal unrest. Nothing... except for the strange, unsettling trees that had begun sprouting in unexpected places.
Pyra Empire, his own dominion, was also running smoothly. The administration was stable. The people safe.
And then—
