The world did not end the way Aurelia expected.
There was no explosion.
No scream of tearing realms.
No violent collapse of sky or stone.
Instead, there was silence.
A deep, unsettling stillness stretched across the land as if the world itself was holding its breath. The battlefield once scarred by voidfire and shattered earth lay frozen beneath a dim, unmoving sky. Ash drifted slowly, suspended in the air, refusing to fall.
Aurelia stood at the center of it all.
Her feet were planted on cracked stone. Her shoulders were squared. The storm inside her void, power, memory had gone unnervingly quiet. Not gone. Not defeated.
Waiting.
Behind her, Kane struggled to his feet.
He was battered. Blood stained his side. His breathing was shallow, uneven, but his eyes never left her. Not eve
