The Rift did not release them so much as hurl them out, as if the fabric of reality itself rejected their presence. Eirena hit the ground with a vicious jolt that forced every breath from her lungs in a painful rush. Her palms scraped against stone cold, slick, and somehow pulsing faintly beneath her touch. Kael landed beside her in a low crouch, absorbing the fall with practiced ease. His hand was already on the hilt of his sword, silver steel half-drawn, his entire body coiled like a predator sensing an unseen threat.
A hush fell over the air.
Not the silence of emptiness.
But the silence of something watching.
A pressure, heavy and ancient, coiled around them like a serpent.
Eirena pushed herself upright and froze.
The realm unfurled before her like a wound carved through the worl
