As the Twin Catastrophe rose from that giant energy sphere, it felt like hell itself had crawled into the hall. The ground shuddered under their weight; dust rained like gray snow. Light bent wrong. Sound tore. Everything that lived in that space tasted of iron and fear.
Ana's breath stopped. Her eyes burned; she couldn't believe what she saw. Her friends — Aazin and Ryzin — were gone. In their place stood a thing that stole names. They had merged and grown taller than any man should be. Their bodies stretched, limbs lengthening, armor like black glass cracking with glowing veins. Each step they took was a sentence of doom, slow and deliberate, a rhythm that hammered at the bones of anyone weak enough to listen.
