The breaking came without warning, as liberation so often does. One moment Dante sat beside Selena on their throne of ash and love, mourning the Watcher's passing and contemplating the vast silence left by the Gate's destruction. The next, he gasped and doubled over, his hands flying to his chest as if he could physically grasp whatever was happening inside him.
"Dante!" Selena was on her feet instantly, the throne releasing her without resistance. She reached for him, but he held up a trembling hand to stop her.
"Wait," he managed through gritted teeth. "Something's... changing. I can feel—"
The sound came from deep within him, from a place beyond flesh and bone. It started as a crack, sharp and clear as ice breaking on a frozen lake. Then another. Then a cascade of them, rapid-fire fractures that Selena could somehow hear despite their origin being internal, metaphysical, impossible.
