4345.97 · April 7, 2025 AD
Threads of Now
The monitors breathe with blue-white light. CliveMind doesn't search—it reveals, translating CLIVE's vast consciousness into fragments Nathan can interpret. The Stewart sisters appear as captured intentions, their voices preserved across centuries: "The soil must be protected... boundaries thinner than they know..." Then the present tears through the past. A timestamp pulses: 18:37. Coordinates he recognises. "Secure extraction target by 19:45." The Campbell Estate. Tonight. Nathan reaches for his Portal Key. Some truths don't wait to be found.
Nathan's workspace exists as a junction between realities—concrete walls, steel door, monitors arranged like petals of a technological flower. CliveMind awakens at his query, and CLIVE's consciousness unfolds across the screens.
The Stewart sisters emerge not as historical records but as preserved moments of existence. Elspeth's own thoughts crystallise into language: "The Campbells have proved themselves loyal and constant. The soil is safe in their care, though it binds them to us in ways they cannot yet ken..."
Nathan follows the threads deeper. Tunnels beneath the estate. Plants that bridge realities. Soil from Clivilius itself. A pact forged to protect the unthinkable.
Then present crashes through past.
A timestamp pulses with warning intensity. Coordinates he knows intimately. Intercepted intention translated into chilling clarity: "Approach confirmed. Distraction unit ready. Secure extraction target by 19:45."
The White Rose Society isn't planning. They're moving. Now.
No time to reach the fractured Guardian network. No hours to coordinate response through encrypted channels designed for security, not speed.
Nathan's hand closes around the Portal Key.
Saint Phillis. Then the Campbell Estate.
The countdown has already begun.
