The world was silent, but it was not peace.
It was the kind of silence that hides something – like the moment between inhaling and exhaling, when you don't know if you'll continue to live.
I opened my eyes.
Light, muted. Smell of metal, dust, something sweet that I didn't recognize.
I was lying on a cold floor. Glass? No – solidified Field.
"Alaric?"
Her voice.
I recognized it immediately – and yet not.
It sounded deeper, more fluid, as if two melodies were playing the same note. One of them was Lina. The other... something she had become.
I raised my head.
Lina knelt beside me. Golden lines covered her skin, which now shimmered slightly, as if made from the touch of light and flesh.
Her eyes – Gold and Violet, in constant alternation.
"I am here," she said.
I sat up. The pain came late – like an echo from another time.
"What happened?"
"The Rift has closed."
Her hand touched my neck. Warm. Human.
"But it left something behind."
