A force—vast, ancient, impossible—erupted through the chamber like a star being born underground.
Not light.Not sound.A pressure of pure existence.
Reality buckled.
Flesh-walls that had crushed, suffocated, strangled—burst outward in spiraling shockwaves of silver radiance,peeling open like a dying world finally releasing its last breath.
The vacuum collapsed in an instant.
Air thundered back—not as wind,but as a tidal surge that slammed into their chestswith the weight of life itself.
Damian's eyes flew open—not from pain,but from the overwhelming, soul-deep certaintythat something greater than breath had returned to them.
A warmth crashed into him—bright, clean, violent—as if someone had reached into his ribcageand dragged him back into the world.
Caleb's gasp broke out of him like a sob—raw, trembling, unbelieving—a single lungful of air that felt like forgiveness.
Ethan's vision flooded with whiteas strength rolled back through his body,not like recovery,but like a second beginning.
Marcus dropped to both knees.
Not from weakness.
From the sheer, overwhelming reliefas Neol's chest twitched—once,then again—a fragile inhale blooming beneath his handlike the smallest, most precious miracle he had ever witnessed.
For one suspended heartbeat,Marcus felt something brighter than survival—joy sharper than his own return to life.
Because Neol—
Neol wasn't slipping away.
Not yet.
Not anymore.
And then—
They saw it.