Moments passed in weighted silence.
And then… they rose.
Every single one of them present rose to their feet.
If I hadn’t been deeply touched and stunned already, what they did next certainly clinched it.
In perfect sync, they all held their fists to their chests and uttered on a collective rumble that reverberated through the room, “Vaxan.”
“Vaxan. Vaxan. Vaxan.”
It was a vow, a prayer, bone deep affirmation.
I couldn’t… it was a lot to process.
I gazed out at them in wonder.
In my peripheral vision, I saw Norla and Syde panicking, the former inching back to her throne, while Syde shrank into his seat.
I thought I heardwhoopingfrom Zayn, but then—
It happened.
A mammoth collective rush of the vibrational resonance shot toward me.
The moment it hit, it shook my entire body, making me convulse uncontrollably as it poured into me.
No, not poured. It was more akin to a violent invasion.
Tearing through flesh and bone, deep into my veins and cells, searching for that hook to cling onto—my own vibrational resonance ability, but all the threads fighting to connect at once and latch on.
What had initially been merely a pins and needles sensation graduated to the feeling of thousands of razor-sharp blades. Burning blades. Like venom being poured into open wounds. Over and over and over.
A charge of it burst out of me, shooting through my fingers and into the nexus as my body fought against it, trying to reject it. I’d expected that, it was why I’d been chained this way. But I also had to minimize how much was lost.
I had to… guide it.
I couldn’t let the rest follow suit.
Stop.
Fuse. Fuse with mine.
Strategy flew from my mind as the pain escalated viciously, giving me no time to acclimate as it shot to such overwhelming heights.
I gritted my teeth, fighting not to cry out.
My skin tried to scale up, but I somehow managed to hold it off—it would break the process.
And then it worsened further.
Violent vibrations wracked my insides, threatening to implode my organs. I could feel it tearing them already.
A roar finally ripped from my throat as bones shattered, crumbled.
My blood began to boil.
The resonance was destroying me from the inside out.
