The aftermath of the failed extraction left the great hall humming with residual magic, but it was a different kind of energy now—warm, interconnected, alive with possibility rather than cold cosmic authority. The Arbiters had withdrawn to what they called their "contemplation chambers," leaving us to deal with the immediate consequences of having fundamentally altered the supernatural world's power structure.
*The magic feels all sparkly now,* Stella observed, her small hand trailing silver fire as she gestured around the hall. *Like when you shake up snow globes and all the pretty bits float around.*
She wasn't wrong. The unified network we'd created during the trial had stabilized into something unprecedented—a web of voluntary connections linking supernatural beings across species an
