Chapter Thirty-Four: When the World Chooses War
The silence didn’t last.
It shattered.
*****
The Sky Breaks
The clouds didn’t part.
They tore.
A massive circular fracture opened in the sky, like reality itself had been peeled back.
Darkness bled through.
Not night.
Not storm.
Something deeper.
Older.
Hungry.
Every instinct in every living being screamed at once.
Run.
Cassandra didn’t.
She stepped forward.
“Whatever you are,” she said, voice steady, “you picked the wrong world.”
The sky answered.
*****
The Descent
It came without a body at first.
Just pressure.
Crushing.
Invisible hands pressing against bone, lungs, thought.
Seraphine dropped to one knee.
Bosco staggered.
Even Lucien swore under his breath.
Maxwell braced himself against a shattered pillar.
Jas
