Interlude (Part 1)

As Jake and the other 577 winners were repatriated to the Red Cube, thousands of other Divine Academies and Celestial City were suddenly cleared of their student populations, some becoming dreary ghost schools.

The natives and Evolvers who had chosen or been granted permanent residency in their respective Divine Academies panicked slightly, while those who had been through the process several times before reacted calmly, their eyes crinkling slightly.

"It's quiet again." Grigori sighed as he looked up at the ceiling of his office room.

His piercing gaze was not focused on that ceiling, but looked beyond it, boring through multiple layers of walls, and clouds to establish eye contact with a colossal black steel face with six fiery suns burning in symmetrical rows of three.