RUMBLE!
Just as Vitaliara's tail settled back into its idle sway and the heat-dome flickered in quiet rhythm, something shifted.
Lucavion felt it first.
Not heard. Felt.
A tremor beneath his palm, subtle, too precise to be coincidence—like the land itself had inhaled.
Then came the sound.
A roar.
Not the guttural bellow of a man, not the sharpened cry of war or challenge—no. This was something else entirely.
It cracked through the sky like a falling star, layered with unnatural distortion, and rolled across the terrain in waves, echoing between the shattered hills.
Lucavion didn't move. Not yet.
He just smiled, slow and low. "Oh…"
Vitaliara tensed, her claws pressing lightly against the fabric of his shoulder. [That's not a contestant.]
"No," he said, rising to his feet in one smooth motion, his coat catching the light of the fire as it swept behind him. "It wouldn't be."
