MY CRUEL PROTECTOR
He was giving them the stability they had lacked.
One by one, the ghosts of the failed worlds began to glow with a soft, steady lavender light. They were no longer flickering. They were no longer afraid.
"Go to the Light," Leo commanded, his voice sounding like the harmony of a thousand bells. "Go to the place where the Eye cannot see you."
The Echoes began to rise, not toward the Source, but toward the "Under-Grid"—the hidden reality I had used to hide the Earth. They were vanishing into the fabric of the ship’s slipstream, becoming part of the Vanguard-01’s own protective veil.