"Liora"
Ren's voice came sharp, urgent. "If you're going to do something, now would be a great time."
But Liora didn't move.
Not yet.
The creature stood a few steps away now, its fractured body shifting with every slight movement. Glass slid against glass, forming and reforming like it couldn't decide what shape it was supposed to hold.
Still...
It didn't attack.
It just watched her.
The shard in her hand pulsed, brighter than before, its light reflecting across the broken surfaces around them.
It remembers, the voice repeated.
Liora swallowed. "Remembers what?"
What it was.
Her chest tightened.
"…It was human?"
The answer didn't come in words.
But she felt it.
Yes.
A sharp breath escaped her.
Ren shifted beside her. "I don't like this," he muttered. "I really don't like this."
"Stay back," Liora said quietly.
"Not a chance."
"I mean it, Ren."
He hesitated, but only for a second.
Then he stepped back anyway.
"Fine," he said. "But if it tries anything"
"I know."
She didn't, actually.
But she stepped forward anyway.
Every instinct told her to run.
To turn around and get as far away from this place and that thing as possible.
But something deeper pulled her forward.
The creature tilted its head again as she approached, its movements slow and uneven. A piece of its arm shifted, sliding out of place before snapping back with a sharp crack.
Broken.
That was the only word for it.
Not just its body.
Everything about it.
Liora stopped a few feet away.
Up close, she could see more clearly the layers of glass fused together, the faint glow deep inside, like embers trapped beneath a surface that couldn't hold them.
"…Can you understand me?" she asked softly.
The creature didn't answer.
But the air changed.
The glass around them trembled, not violently, but like something responding.
Like it was listening.
The shard in her hand grew warmer.
Speak, the voice urged.
"I am speaking," she whispered.
No, it said. Not like that.
Liora frowned.
Then....
Slowly....
She lifted the shard.
The light spilled outward, soft at first, then stronger, touching the surrounding glass, connecting to it in ways she couldn't fully see but somehow understood.
The creature reacted instantly.
It flinched.
Not away...
But like something inside it had just been struck.
A sound escaped it low, uneven, almost like a breath dragged across broken edges.
Liora's heart twisted.
"It hurts," she said.
Mira, watching from behind, nodded slightly. "Yeah," she said. "It probably does."
"No," Liora said quietly. "I mean… it feels like it hurts."
Ren stared at her. "That's worse."
The shard pulsed again.
Stronger this time.
And suddenly....
Liora wasn't just looking at the creature anymore.
She was seeing something else.
Flashes.
Broken.
Incomplete.
But there.
Fire.
Glass melting.
People running, shouting, screaming.
A figure..
Not clear, not whole...
Reaching out, trapped beneath falling debris.
And then....
Silence.
Liora gasped, stumbling back.
The vision shattered as quickly as it came.
"What just happened?" Ren asked.
"I…" She shook her head, trying to steady herself. "I saw something."
Mira stepped closer. "What kind of something?"
"Memories," Liora said, her voice unsteady. "Not mine."
All three of them turned slowly toward the creature.
It stood where it had been...but something had changed.
The light within it flickered more erratically now.
Like it was reacting too.
Like it felt what she had just seen.
"It's not just alive," Liora said quietly.
"It's stuck."
Mira's expression darkened. "Stuck where?"
"In the moment it broke."
Ren let out a slow breath. "That's… not great."
"No," Liora said. "It's not."
The creature took another step toward her.
Closer now than before.
Ren tensed again. "Liora"
"It's okay," she said, though she wasn't entirely sure that was true.
The creature raised its arm.
Not to strike.
But to reach.
The jagged edges of its form shifted, trying and failing to shape into something smoother, something more… human.
Liora hesitated.
Then, slowly...
She reached out too.
Mira sucked in a quiet breath. "This is a bad idea."
"Probably," Ren agreed.
But neither of them stopped her.
Their hands almost touched.
Glass and skin.
Broken and whole.
The moment stretched.
The air holding still...
Until....
The creature's arm jerked violently.
A crack split through its form, light bursting through the fractures.
It recoiled, staggering back with a harsh, grinding sound.
"No" Liora stepped forward instinctively.
The shard flared.
Too bright.
Too fast.
The connection snapped.
And the creature let out a sound this time that was unmistakable—
Pain.
Everything happened at once.
The ground trembled.
Glass lifted again but this time not slowly, not carefully. It surged upward in a chaotic storm, fragments spinning wildly, pulled by something unstable and breaking apart.
"Okay, that's new!" Ren shouted.
"Back!" Mira snapped, grabbing Liora's arm and pulling her away.
The creature thrashed, its form collapsing and rebuilding at the same time, like it couldn't hold itself together.
"It's losing control!" Liora said.
"Or gaining it!" Ren shot back.
Neither option sounded good.
The storm of glass expanded, shards slamming into nearby walls, tearing through debris. The entire district seemed to react, as if the creature's instability was spreading outward.
"We need to go!" Mira said.
Liora hesitated.
"It's in pain..."
"And we will be too if we stay!" Ren cut in.
The creature turned toward her again.
Not attacking.
Not chasing.
Just...
Reaching.
That same broken motion.
That same impossible attempt to connect.
Liora's chest ached.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
The shard dimmed slightly.
As if it understood.
They ran.
This time, Liora didn't look back.
Not because she didn't want to...
But because she couldn't.
The sound of breaking glass followed them, echoing through the ruins long after they'd left the creature behind.
They didn't stop until the air felt lighter again.
Until the streets though still damaged felt more stable beneath their feet.
Ren bent over, catching his breath. "Okay," he said between breaths. "New rule."
"No more broken districts?" Mira suggested.
"No more talking glass creatures."
"Agreed."
Liora stayed quiet.
Her hand still wrapped tightly around the shard.
"…It remembered," she said finally.
Mira looked at her. "Yeah."
"And it wasn't alone," Liora added.
Ren straightened slightly. "What do you mean?"
Liora lifted her gaze, looking back toward the direction they'd come from.
"The fire didn't just destroy the city," she said softly. "It changed people."
A heavy silence settled.
Mira exhaled slowly. "Yeah," she said. "We figured that much."
Liora shook her head.
"No," she said. "I don't think you understand."
She tightened her grip on the shard.
"Neither do I."
Far behind them, deep in the broken district...
The creature stood alone.
Its fractured body slowly stilling.
The light within it flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then steadied.
And for just a moment...
Its shape almost looked human again....
END OF CHAPTER 7.....
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