A moment later, the walls shift.
Panels slide, corridors split. The floor splits. The chamber elongates, pushing us apart like two stars torn by gravity. Thegeometry warps. My fist scrapes the new wall between us—metal that wasn’t there seconds before.
Still, I keep my eyes locked on hers.
She stumbles backwards. Borzen pins her against the wall, breathing hard, weapon close to her side.
I shift forward, muscles coiled. “Let her go!” I thunder.
He doesn’t. The tension tightens.
Then the Maze moans. The walls shift again, diverting Borzen’s angle, opening a narrow corridor behind him. It throws him off balance. Her side loosens. She slips, stumbles—one step toward me.
I take that step. Just one.
The wall between us warps in a shimmer.
She sees me. I see her. Everything screams with meaning. The connection solidifies.
I roar—a sound of claim, not fury. A cry that burns down every fake partition, every circuit, every piece of architecture trying to keep us apart.
Her lips part, tears in her eyes. She reaches out. The flame of something unspoken burns there.
Then the corridor snaps shut—walls grind, doors slam, light flicks. The moment is erased.
I stand at the barrier, breathing heavy. The glow from her silhouette through the glass—even that is fading.
Borzen crouches behind her, muttering threats, guarding her like a lion guards a cub. She presses a hand to the wall between us.
I taste ozone, sweat, blood. The Maze hums below us, furious.
I whisper, just to her, just to the wall, “I will cross this. I will break this. I willhave you.”
Her eyes flick once—raw hurt, recognition, something fierce—and then vanish as the chamber resets.
I don’t move right away. I stay pinned to the wall, knuckles raw where my claws raked the metal. The Maze pulses under my skin. The afterimage of her face lingers, like a brand.
I step back, breathing ragged, and let the walls swallow the corridor.
The Maze thinks it's won.
But it hasn’t.
Because now she knows I’m real.
And now, I will never stop.
CHAPTER 13
LIORA
We lurch forward into the next room. The corridor disgorges us unceremoniously. My feet smack the floor hard, and I taste copper and adrenaline. I spin, fists clenched.
“What the hell was that thing?” I demand, voice loud and cracked. My heart still pounds from the corridor collapse. My ribs ache. My limbs feel weak, as though the maze itself is trying to drown me in gravity.
Borzen stares at me, silence carved into his face. He’s breathing hard. His mechanical arm twitches.
Dravven shrugs, as if the world’s elasticity extends to this madness. “A Reaper, obviously. But he didn’t kill you. That’s new.”
