The moment Elara’s fingers brushed the first unraveling chain, the world screamed.
Not the void.
Not the Devourer.
Reality itself.
A violent surge of force slammed outward, throwing Draven back across the fractured platform. He hit hard, skidding dangerously close to the edge as the ground beneath him cracked like brittle glass.
“Elara!” he shouted, scrambling to his feet.
Too late.
The chain dissolved into black-silver light, flowing upward like liquid memory and wrapping around Elara’s wrist. It did not burn. It did not freeze. It settled as if it had been waiting for her pulse to exist.
The Devourer exhaled deeply.
For the first time, the sound carried relief.
“Yes,” it murmured. “You feel it now. The thread.”
Elara gasped as the connection surged through her images slamming
