The Sentinels move. Not fast or slow. Just suddenlythere.
Kael shields me with his body, his strength ebbing as the world erupts in light and force.
Heat crashes into us. Alive and ancient.
“Now!” he roars.
I slam the bracelet into his hand. He grabs the dampener artifact from his duster, crushing both together.
The world goes silent.
The hum. Gone. Ripped out of existence.
The light stutters. The Sentinels freeze. Just for a second.
It’s enough.
Kael drives the artifact forward, straight into the distortion surrounding them.
The reaction is immediate. Dragonflies freeze mid-air, then fall to the ground, a heavy rain of metal.
Calder’s gaze drops, face unreadable, staring at the useless pile of broken tech.
The light collapses inward—folding in on itself, tightening until it seems to vanish into a point that shouldn’t exist.
It doesn’t feel like a victory. It feels… permitted.
Calder’s gaze shifts. It leaves the insects. Finds me. And holds.
There’s no anger or urgency in it. Only focus. Like he’s trying to understand something. Or confirm it.
Torin stands just behind him, still as stone. His attention moves between us in a way that doesn’t follow sight. As if he’s listening to something neither of us can hear.
Then, they’re gone. No retreat or movement. The space where they stood simply empties.
The metallic insects are gone, too. Vanished into thin air.
Sound returns all at once. The wind. Tempest’s breathing. My own pulse in my ears.
The hum flickers, weak for a moment, then settles again. It isn’t what it was before.
Kael hunches forward, head nearly resting against Tempest’s neck.
His words come out like a last breath. “Eliza, you alright?”
That’s when I realize how much he’d give to keep me alive.
“Yes,” I whisper. But my shaking hands don’t agree.
He keeps staring at the ridge.
The ground is split in thin lines, like something pressed down too hard and too briefly. The air above it wavers, faint and uneven.
It doesn’t feel finished.
Blood streaks from his nose. His shoulders remain hunched, as if something inside him hasn’t settled back into place.
I feel it then. Rage, shame, and the frigid realization that he can’t protect me.
