The moment the forest moved towards Liam, the air changed shape.
Not pressure.
Not sound.
Intention.
Denise felt it like a clean line being drawn through the world, everything else fading into background noise.
Her body reacted before her mind caught up.
“Liam—” she started.
But he was already moving.
Not away from her.
Not toward the door.
Forward.
Down into the courtyard.
Denise rushed to the balcony edge. “What are you doing?!”
Liam didn’t look back.
“I’m removing the variable they can’t control,” he said.
Denise’s chest tightened. “That sounds like you’re walking into it.”
“It is,” he replied.
Below, the forest boundary opened.
Not like a breach.
Like permission being withdrawn from reality.
And something stepped through.
Not the earlier forms.
Not fragments.
Thi
