The air cracked like splitting glass. Energy spiraled out of the Mirror’s core, threads of blue and red twisting around us as we turned toward Hazel.
The commander-fragment had found her.
It wasn’t guessing anymore…it was planning. Each pulse it sent out directed the others, pulling them into perfect alignment. The swarm moved like a single, dark mind, bending the chaos into strategy.
“Hazel!” I shouted, already moving. My boots hit the dirt hard, the ground vibrating with the force of the fragments’ hum.
Hazel stood inside her glowing circle, jaw tight, every line of her body screaming focus. Her red energy flared outward, forming a second ring that kept the smaller fragments at bay. But the commander slid through the gaps like smoke, its edges flickering, impossible to pin down.
Jax
