The light folded.
Not outward.
Not exploding.
Folding inward on itself like a star collapsing under its own weight.
Emily couldn’t breathe.
Not because of pain—
But because something inside her had taken over the act entirely.
Her lungs moved.
Her heart beat.
But neither belonged to her anymore.
“I—” Her voice fractured. “I can’t feel my—”
The words died as another pulse tore through her.
The core inside her chest compressed again, smaller, denser, brighter—so bright it no longer looked like fire.
It looked like a point.
A singularity of white-gold brilliance threaded with something darker, something that didn’t emit light—
But consumed it.
The chamber reacted violently.
Blue lines across the walls flared to maximum intensity before flickering erratically. The hum that had
