Nothing moved.
Not the creature.
Not Selene.
Not even the dust still drifting through the fractured corridor.
Time didn't feel like it had stopped.
It felt like it was waiting.
Selene stood at the edge of the broken world, her boots inches from the jagged opening that cut through the stone like a wound. Cold air rose from below, thick and ancient, curling around her legs, whispering of something buried too long.
In front of her—
The creature.
Massive. Unnatural. Watching.
And waiting.
Her heart pounded, but her body didn't move. The fear was there—sharp, real, clawing at her instincts—but it no longer controlled her.
Because something else stood beside it now.
Clarity.
The power inside her pulsed again—not violently, not erratically, but steadily. Like a second heartbeat. Like something that had finally decided to stop hiding.
Selene inhaled slowly.
Then spoke.
"Go back."
Her voice didn't rise.
It didn't need to.
It cut through the silence like something solid.
