Vell felt it before he saw it, the breaking of bonds that connected him to his family, and each snap felt not just like a physical blow, but like a piece of his own soul being torn away. He ran faster, ignoring the agony that shot through his exhausted body.
When he reached the safe house, he found the door shattered, its splinters scattered across the threshold. Inside, he froze at the sight before him.
A man in a black coat stood in the middle of the room, his presence so overwhelming it felt like a physical weight even to Vell's weakened senses. Around him lay his family, all of them motionless on the cold stone floor.
"No…" His voice cracked as he saw Wren's human form sprawled near the window, her usually playful face now still and pale. The twin slimes, Sia and Mia, had been reduced to small, shimmering puddles, their attempts at human forms dissolving away into nothingness.
