Then he concentrated, pulling a feeble thread of magic from the distant gateway, rather than depleting his own reserves, and used that to lift a nearby rock. Carefully, he lowered the rock into the nanoring, the dark edge of the Tide that was busily devouring the planet Earth. Almost immediately, it began to liquify. Malachite lifted the remains out of the ring, lifting it higher and higher. The rock continued to dissolve, covered in the black tar of nanomachines that comprised the ring. 