The graveyard trembled as though it shared Lin's heartbeat. Every rib and spine of the titans underfoot quivered, dust rising like ash in a storm. The envoy's mask split further, lines fracturing outward with a sickening creak. What had once been a faceless vessel of abyssal authority now revealed something far worse—familiarity.
Through the crack, an eye stared out. It was human. Too human. Pale, rimmed in red veins, with an iris that mirrored Lin's own. Not identical, no. But close enough to spark recognition in the marrow.
Lin's breath hitched. His body convulsed as if the chains inside him recognized the face before his mind could. They writhed like serpents under his skin, some reaching toward the envoy, others retracting as though scorched.
"Wh—what… what are you?" Lin rasped, his voice raw, ragged.
