Chapter 30: The Silence After Light
Kael awoke to the scent of ozone and the weight of dust settling over his skin. The world above was gone, replaced by silence broken only by the distant hum of collapsing structures. His lungs burned as he pushed himself up from the wreckage of the control chamber, his vision blurred by flickering arcs of residual energy.
The light had vanished, but its echo lingered everywhere, in the air, in the trembling ground, in the fractured hum of circuits trying to restart. He stumbled forward, every muscle aching, calling out into the void.
“Elira!”
The sound of her name vanished into static, bouncing off the metal walls. His wrist console sparked, its screen cracked and unreadable. For a moment, he stood still, forcing his thoughts to focus through the fog
