Scene 1 – The Aftermath of Light
The golden explosion tore the void apart, a storm of fire and light that blinded eyes and deafened ears.
Kaelina felt herself slammed backward, chains tearing at her arms as if they wanted to rip her apart. The blast filled her lungs with heat, her skin stung with sparks. She coughed violently, choking on the metallic taste of blood as the roar of destruction faded into suffocating silence.
Her body trembled, pinned under the weight of half-shattered shackles still smoldering with golden fire. Every breath burned.
And then—through the haze, she saw him.
Jemil.
His silhouette stood at the heart of the devastation, hand still raised, glowing, trembling. His body was hunched like a man bearing the weight of a world, golden fire crawling across him in jagged veins. The curse's burning mark seared against his chest, pulsing in time with the colossal predator-blade that loomed behind him.
But what had he chosen?
