The words landed like stones in my gut.
I turned back to the wall.
Then past it.
My perception stretched outward and slammed into the same thing from every direction.
Ice.
Pressure.
That same suffocating Dualflow presence, closing in from behind like an incoming tide.
The monster wasn't chasing us anymore.
It was containing us.
I felt it then, clear and unmistakable.
We hadn't escaped.
We'd been herded.
Kent followed my gaze. He didn't ask the question.
He already knew the answer.
"…There's no way out," he said.
I opened my mouth to argue.
Closed it.
Said nothing.
Behind us, the temperature dropped again.
Not gradually.
Decisively.
Like a verdict.
The forest groaned as it froze solid, wood snapping under sudden pressure. Ice crept across the ground toward our feet, thin at first, then thicker, crawling like something alive.
I flexed my fingers. Death mana stirred uneasily under my skin, thin and brittle against the overwhelming weight pressing down on us.
