Eli's breath hitched. His head tilted back, vision trembling through the haze of pain.
'Am I… seeing things?'
The ceiling.
Zaira's aura rolled outward like a tide, painting the cavern in that soft pink shimmer. The walls glowed faintly, the black water rippled with its tint, even the jagged stone coiling around Mio shimmered like glass.
But above—where the uneven ceiling stretched high—her aura stopped.
It didn't climb further. Didn't spread. It cut off midair, as if it had smashed into an invisible wall.
Eli's stomach twisted. He could see the stone ceiling clearly, shadows still dancing there. Nothing blocked his eyes. But his instincts whispered otherwise. Something was there. Something the aura couldn't reach.
Or maybe… maybe it wasn't real.
His vision blurred again, swimming with black dots. Pain pulsed so violently through his skull he couldn't trust what he was seeing anymore. His chest stuttered with panic.
'Is this real—or is it just my head breaking apart—'
