The Observer drone's lights finally stabilized as Echo Squad emerged from the affected area, though it continued emitting occasional error beeps.

  Marc immediately contacted Guild headquarters, reporting the anomalous environmental recovery while the team waited on a cleared section of pavement.

  "How long before someone shows up?" Layla asked, leaning against a partially restored wall.

  "They won't," Marc replied, checking his communicator. "Command is setting up a remote analysis session. Too many incidents lately for physical response teams."

  Magi said nothing. He brushed dirt from his jeans and took a seat on a chunk of concrete that had somehow repositioned itself into a perfectly level bench-like structure. The subtle organization of the environment continued to fascinate him. Rebalanced.

  "Remote session in three minutes," Marc announced. "Everyone stay visible for the drone feed."

  Jax paced in a tight circle. "Anyone else notice we're spending more time explaining weird stuff to the Guild than actually clearing rifts lately?"

  Eli nodded. "The pattern recognition algorithms must be working overtime trying to categorize everything we've encountered."

  "What pattern?" Layla snorted. "First a bone dragon, then disappearing rifts, now self-healing buildings. There's no pattern."

  Magi glanced up. "There might be."

  Before anyone could ask what he meant, the Observer drone emitted a sharp tone. Its central display flickered, then projected a holographic interface with the Guild insignia.

  "Echo Squad, this is Analysis Team Seven," came a crisp female voice. The hologram resolved into the image of a woman with short gray hair and rectangular glasses. "I'm Senior Analyst Patel. With me are Specialists Chen and Rodriguez."

  Two more faces appeared in smaller windows, a younger man with a thin mustache and a woman with tied-back dark hair.

  "We've received your preliminary report and the drone's data stream," Patel continued. "Though much of the environmental data appears corrupted."

  "The drone kept glitching," Marc explained. "Something about the affected area seems to confuse its sensors."

  Analyst Chen leaned forward, his expression eager. "Can you describe the exact boundaries of the effect?"

  Marc deferred to Jax, who pulled up his tablet. "Approximately fifty meters in all directions from the original incursion point. The effect doesn't stop abruptly, it fades gradually over about five meters."

  "And you've confirmed accelerated recovery of both organic and inorganic materials?" Rodriguez asked.

  "Yes," Eli said. "Plant life, concrete structures, even metal components all showing repair rates that would normally take months condensed into hours."

  Patel's image flickered as she consulted something off-screen. "The drone's atmospheric readings show no unusual energy signatures. No radiation. No chemical contaminants."

  "That's consistent with what we found," Marc confirmed. "Whatever's happening doesn't register on our standard equipment."

  Chen's expression brightened. "This matches the profile of an experimental containment protocol. The Advance Technology Division has been working on post-incursion stabilization techniques."

  "That doesn't track," Rodriguez countered. "ATD protocols require on-site personnel and visible equipment. Echo Squad reported no such presence."

  "Unless," Chen pressed, "they're testing a fully automated system. Something that activates after the threat is neutralized."

  Marc shook his head. "Wouldn't they notify active squads about such tests?"

  "Not necessarily," Patel interjected. "Some field tests are conducted with minimal disclosure to gauge authentic responses."

  Magi watched the analysts debate, his expression neutral. Their theories were reasonable attempts to fit an unexplainable phenomenon into existing frameworks. He understood the impulse.

  "Another possibility," Rodriguez suggested, "is an environmental relic. Some object or artifact with restorative properties activated by the elemental's energy."

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  "Like a healing beacon?" Layla asked, suddenly interested.

  "Similar," Rodriguez nodded. "We've cataloged seventeen instances of location-bound artifacts that respond to dimensional disturbances."

  "If that's the case," Chen added, "we should dispatch a recovery team immediately. Such artifacts have significant research value."

  Patel made a note. "We'll authorize a sweep, but I doubt it's an artifact. The effect distribution doesn't match typical artifact signatures."

  The discussion continued, with theories growing increasingly elaborate. Magi remained silent, occasionally glancing at the affected area behind them. The healing… no, the balancing, continued at its steady pace, indifferent to their attempts to categorize it.

  "There's one more possibility we should consider," Patel said finally, her tone becoming more formal. "The timing and nature of these anomalies suggest possible intervention by an elite squad operating outside standard Guild protocols."

  The accusation hung in the air.

  Marc straightened. "Are you suggesting another Guild team is responsible? Working off the books?"

  "Not necessarily Guild," Rodriguez clarified. "There are... other organizations with interest in dimensional stability."

  "The Syndicate," Jax muttered.

  "We don't speculate on specific entities," Patel responded smoothly. "But yes, there are groups with both the motivation and capability to stabilize areas affected by rifts. Sometimes their methods don't align with Guild procedures."

  The holographic display shifted, showing a timeline of recent incidents involving Echo Squad. The bone dragon, the permanently closed rift, and now this anomalous recovery.

  "Your team has been present at an unusual number of atypical events," Chen noted.

  "We've been doing our job," Marc replied, an edge entering his voice. "If you're implying—"

  "We're not implying anything," Patel interrupted. "We're gathering data." She adjusted her glasses. "But I would like each of you to describe your exact actions during your time in the affected area."

  One by one, the team members recounted their movements. Marc had coordinated the perimeter scan. Jax had collected samples. Eli had analyzed atmospheric conditions. Layla had checked structural integrity.

  Finally, Patel turned to Magi, who had yet to speak during the entire session. "And you, Mr. Necros? What did you do while in the affected area?"

  The team glanced at him. They'd been so busy with their assigned tasks, no one had specifically tracked Magi's movements.

  He looked directly at the holographic display. "I walked."

  A beat of silence followed.

  "Could you elaborate?" Patel pressed.

  "I walked through the area. I observed the recovery patterns. I touched the ground in several places to check stability." He shrugged slightly. "Basic reconnaissance."

  "Did you use any attributes? Fire? Earth? Water?" Chen asked.

  "Minimal Earth to test ground stability," Magi replied. "Standard procedure."

  "And you noticed nothing unusual during these... walks?" Rodriguez's tone carried barely disguised skepticism.

  "Only what we've already reported," Magi said. "The accelerated recovery."

  Patel studied him through the hologram, her expression unreadable. "Mr. Necros, your file indicates you joined Echo Squad relatively recently. Your background before that is... sparse."

  "I was a freelancer," he replied simply.

  "Yes. With an unusual attribute profile." She consulted something off-screen again. "Access to multiple basic attributes but no advanced techniques."

  "That's correct."

  "And yet your team has achieved remarkable results despite this... limitation."

  Magi met her gaze evenly. "Basic doesn't mean ineffective."

  Another silence stretched across the connection. The three analysts exchanged glances, having some unspoken communication.

  "Very well," Patel finally said. "We'll need to analyze the samples your team collected. In the meantime, maintain the perimeter and report any changes in the affected area."

  "What about our next assignment?" Marc asked. "We're supposed to report to Sector 8 for rift monitoring this afternoon."

  "Proceed as scheduled," Patel replied. "We'll handle the follow-up here."

  The call was ending when Rodriguez suddenly leaned forward. "One last question, Mr. Necros. When you walked through the affected area and observed the recovery patterns, what did you think was happening?"

  Magi considered for a moment. "It looked like balance being restored. Not repair, exactly. Just... things finding their proper state again."

  Rodriguez's eyes narrowed slightly. "That's an interesting distinction."

  "It's just an observation," Magi replied.

  The hologram flickered, then disappeared. The Observer drone's lights returned to normal blue, but its central display continued showing "Environmental data corrupted."

  Marc closed his communicator. "That was... intense."

  "They think we did something," Jax said.

  "No," Eli corrected. "They think Magi did something."

  All eyes turned to him again. He stood from his makeshift concrete seat, brushing off his jeans.

  "Did you?" Layla asked directly. "Do something to this place?"

  "No," Magi said truthfully. He hadn't done anything to affect the area's recovery. Whatever was happening had started before they arrived.

  Marc sighed. "Let's finish the perimeter checks and head to our next assignment. The analysts can theorize all they want, we have work to do."

  As the team dispersed to complete their tasks, the Observer drone's audio pickup captured a final exchange between the analysts, who had failed to properly terminate their connection:

  "—impossible to verify without direct observation," Chen was saying.

  "The pattern matches other incidents," Rodriguez insisted. "The timing, the nature of the recovery."

  "But we have no evidence," Patel replied firmly. "Nothing connecting him or anyone else to these events."

  A frustrated sigh, then Rodriguez's voice: "So what do we put in the report?"

  A long pause. "...Log it as coincidence," Patel finally muttered. "Until we have something concrete."

  The transmission cut off completely.

  Magi, who had been standing nearest the drone, gave no indication he'd heard anything.

  He simply continued his work, examining a section of wall that was gradually redistributing its weight to strengthen its foundation.

  Balance, not repair. That was the key distinction. Something or someone understood the difference.

  And he strongly suspected the Office of Dimensional Management knew exactly what was happening.