0222 Ovi Wbm 7z -

He leaned back, his eyes narrowing. "Ovi." In the old dialect of his home village, it meant The Witness . "Wbm"—an ancient navigational shorthand for West-By-Moonlight .

He looked toward the western horizon, where the moon hung like a silver hook. The transmission wasn't a message from the past—it was an invitation for the future. 0222 Ovi Wbm 7z

The machine hummed, the signal dying as quickly as it had appeared. The silence that followed was heavy, pressing against the walls of the station. Elias didn't need to hear more. He stood up, grabbed his heavy coat from the hook, and stepped out into the biting winter air. He leaned back, his eyes narrowing