(Mirabel's POV)
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
Nobody spoke.
The figure stood at the edge of the fracture while reality trembled around it.
Waiting.
Smiling.
The darkness behind it stretched beyond sight.
Beyond imagination.
Beyond meaning.
I couldn't understand what I was seeing.
My eyes refused.
Every time I tried to focus on the thing, my thoughts slid away.
Like my mind was protecting itself.
Or hiding.
The figure tilted its head.
Curious.
Interested.
As though it had discovered something unexpected.
Something amusing.
Something alive.
Then it took a single step forward.
The impossible horizon shattered.
Not physically.
Conceptually.
Every future surrounding us flickered.
Thousands.
Millions.
Infinite timelines blinking in and out of existence.
Entire civil
