Damian’s verdict hung suspended in the stale office air, cold and final—a quiet prophecy no one dared breathe into life.
The silence did not outlast the minute.
It died screaming.
A brutal burst of electronic feedback tore through the security console, high and shrill, frying every live frequency in the room. One heartbeat later, the entire compound’s power vacuumed out.
No gradual dimming. No flickering warning.
A hard, violent snap into absolute, swallowing black.
The distant industrial hum of generators choked flat. The mine’s living, constant thrumming died mid-vibration.
Darkness. Thick, velveteen, total—the kind that clings to skin, that erases distance and dimension, that lets shadows move undetected.
A single stunned beat of void. My own heart hammered loud enough to fill t
