The rain didn't stop when Arielle left the parade, but the noise did. She ducked into a narrow street lined with shuttered boutiques and flickering lanterns, her boots slapping against the puddled pavement. Her camera hung heavy around her neck. Every few steps, she glanced at the threads, still shimmering faintly despite the dark.
She hated how they never disappeared. Even now, in the near-empty street, strands stretched between distant windows, up into the rooftops, and out into the night. They didn't care if she was exhausted or scared. They just… were.
Selene's words lingered like smoke in her mind: "The city is unraveling, thread by thread."
She paused beneath an awning, wiping her lens with the hem of her jacket. Across the street, a figure stood at the mouth of another alley, half-hidden by shadows. For a moment, she thought it was Selene, watching her again. But when the figure turned, she caught only a flash of glowing eyes before it melted into the dark.
Arielle stiffened. That wasn't Selene.
She took a step back — and the threads reacted.
All at once, they tightened. Lines that had been slack moments ago snapped taut, quivering as though plucked by invisible fingers. A low hum filled the air, like distant wires vibrating in a storm.
Arielle's pulse spiked. She raised her camera, not to shoot, but because it was the only thing that steadied her hands. Through the lens, the threads looked sharper, brighter. And she saw it then: a single, massive black strand running along the alley, pulsing faintly, like it was breathing.
Before she could move closer, a voice cut through the hum.
"Step back."
Selene appeared at her side, silent as a shadow, one hand gripping her arm. The other held the silver needle, its glow faint but fierce.
"That's not just a thread," they murmured. "It's a tether. And it's feeding."
Arielle's throat tightened. "Feeding on what?"
Selene's gaze stayed on the black strand, their voice low. "On connection. On everything people care about. You don't want to know what happens if it latches on to you."
The black tether twitched, a slow, deliberate movement like a snake testing the air. Then it began to retreat, coiling back into the alley until only the faintest glimmer remained.
Selene lowered the needle but didn't relax. "Come on. Standing here makes us look like prey.