The figure's hand remained raised.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then the city answered.
A deep tone rolled from the distant towers, powerful enough that Mark felt it through the soles of his boots.
One tower lit.
Then another.
Then twenty.
Golden light raced through the ancient city until every spire burned against the alien sky.
Around them, the garden remained bowed.
Thousands of plants.
Millions, perhaps.
Leaves pressed toward the soil. Towering stalks bent low. Even the floating blossoms descended until they hovered inches above the ground.
Nothing moved except the figure at the edge of the forest.
It lowered its hand.
The city fell silent.
Caleb stared.
"Okay. That's new."
The Keeper didn't respond.
Mark glanced at him.
The old man's face had gone pale.
"You know what that is."
"No."
"Then why do you look terrified?"
The Keeper swallowed.
"Because I've seen everyone else bow."
He looked toward the figure.
"I've never seen the city answer."
Lily stepped forward.
The Keeper caught her arm.
"Don't."
She looked at his hand.
He released her.
"It's not here to hurt us," she said.
"You don't know that."
"No."
Lily stared across the field.
"But the garden does."
That silenced him.
The figure began walking toward them.
Slowly.
No weapon.
No sudden movement.
With every step, the plants nearest it lifted from the ground.
Not completely.
Just enough to create a path.
Behind it, they bowed again.
Elena watched closely.
"They aren't afraid."
Mark looked at her.
"How can you tell?"
"Look at them."
She pointed toward a cluster of Veyra.
Their translucent spheres glowed warmly as the figure passed.
"They're responding the way the Network responded to Lily."
The Keeper shook his head.
"No."
His voice was barely audible.
"Not the same."
The figure came closer.
Now they could see its shape clearly.
Tall.
Nearly seven feet.
Two arms.
Two legs.
A narrow torso covered in overlapping layers that looked somewhere between clothing and bark.
Its skin was dark silver, crossed by thin lines of pale blue light.
Its face was almost human.
Almost.
The eyes were too large.
The jaw too narrow.
And instead of hair, fine threadlike structures swept backward from its head, moving gently despite the still air.
It stopped twenty feet away.
Nobody spoke.
The figure looked at Mark.
Then Elena.
Caleb.
The Keeper.
Finally—
Lily.
Its expression changed.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
Lily felt it immediately.
"You know me."
The creature tilted its head.
Then spoke.
The words were unfamiliar.
Soft.
Musical.
Completely alien.
Caleb sighed.
"Well, that's going to make this easy."
But Lily wasn't listening to him.
She had understood something.
Not the words.
The meaning.
She touched her chest.
"Lily."
The creature's glowing eyes brightened.
It repeated the name.
"Lily."
Perfectly.
Everyone froze.
Elena whispered, "It learned that fast?"
The Keeper shook his head.
"I don't think it learned anything."
The creature looked toward him.
For the first time, its calm expression hardened.
The Keeper stepped backward.
"You know me?"
The creature spoke another unfamiliar phrase.
The Keeper stared.
"I don't understand."
Lily did.
Her face changed.
Mark noticed immediately.
"What did it say?"
Lily hesitated.
"It called him..."
She looked at the Keeper.
"...the one who stayed."
The Keeper's eyes widened.
The creature turned toward the city.
It raised one hand.
Far across the valley, a massive opening appeared at the base of the central tower.
Two enormous sections of the structure separated without sound.
A passage into darkness.
Then the alien looked back at Lily.
This time when it spoke, Lily heard no unfamiliar language.
She heard meaning directly.
Come.
She stepped backward.
Mark moved beside her.
"What's wrong?"
"It's not talking to my ears."
"What?"
"I can hear it in here."
She touched the side of her head.
The Keeper stared at her.
"The Listener."
The alien turned and began walking toward the city.
After several steps, it stopped.
It looked back.
Waiting.
Caleb laughed nervously.
"Apparently everybody on this planet wants us to follow them somewhere."
Nobody smiled.
The Veyra beside Lily suddenly opened.
Its translucent sphere filled with light.
An image appeared.
The four travelers.
The Keeper.
The alien.
All entering the city.
Then the image changed.
Mark stepped closer.
Something was wrong.
The city appeared again.
But now its towers were dark.
The sky above it had turned black.
Plants throughout the valley were collapsed.
Dead.
And standing at the center of the image was Lily.
Alone.
The vision disappeared.
"No," Mark said.
The Veyra closed.
Lily stared at it.
"What did that mean?"
The Keeper's expression had changed.
"The Veyra shows what's about to happen."
"That's what you said before."
"Yes."
Mark pointed at the flower.
"Then we're not going."
The alien stopped.
Slowly, it turned toward them.
For the first time, its expression showed urgency.
It spoke.
Lily heard the meaning instantly.
If you do not come, what you saw will happen.
Lily stared at it.
Mark shook his head.
"Tell it we're not walking into that city because some flower showed us the end of the world."
Lily didn't respond.
Because the Veyra opened again.
Another image appeared.
This time the city was alive.
The towers glowed.
The garden flourished.
And hundreds of figures moved through the streets.
Not one species.
Many.
Then the vision shifted toward the central tower.
Deep inside it was something enormous.
Something growing.
Roots.
But these roots were black.
They twisted through the foundation of the city, strangling the glowing veins surrounding them.
At their center—
something moved.
The image vanished.
The alien spoke again.
Lily listened.
Her face slowly lost its color.
Elena stepped toward her.
"What did it say?"
Lily looked at the distant city.
Then at the garden bowed around them.
Finally, she looked at Mark.
"The city didn't wake up because we arrived."
A cold wind moved through the valley.
For the first time, the plants around them began trembling.
Mark stared toward the enormous open doorway in the distant tower.
"Then why did it wake up?"
Lily listened as the alien spoke one final time.
Her voice was barely a whisper when she translated.
"Because something underneath it did."
Far beneath the city—
the ground moved.
And this time...
the garden did not bow.
It recoiled.