The world went quiet. Reality itself snapped taut, stretched to a microscopic point where all motion ceased to exist.
"This..."
Morgan froze.
The wind died mid-gust, leaving a veil of ash and translucent dust frozen mid-air between the ruined pillars of the grand courtyard.
Nearby, the shattered remains of a gilded lantern hung suspended in time, its escaping embers pinned against the gloom like static specks of gold.
Even the blood dripping from a fallen guard's blade hung suspended an inch above the cracked marble floor.
"How..."
Silence...absolute, suffocating, and domineering—swallowed Elaris whole.
Then, the third pulse detonated.
It did not travel through the air or ripple along the ground like the first. It passed directly through matter, space, and flesh simultaneously.
The ground bucked upward as the bedrock miles beneath the city shattered. Massive, thousand-year-old structures were violently sheared in half.
