One moment, hundreds of catkin warriors, nobles, and servants filled the space—bodies, voices, presence. The next, they were simply gone. Vanished like smoke dispersing in wind.
Helvora blinked, her grey eyes darting left and right. The tables were still there. The chandeliers still hung overhead, their light flickering across empty marble. The thrones remained.
But the people...
Gone.
Replaced by hundreds—'hundreds'—of black butterflies.
They filled the air like living shadows, wings fluttering silently as they hovered where bodies had stood moments before. The hall looked like it had been invaded by a swarm of midnight insects, each one pulsing with dark energy.
"What..."
Helvora breathed, her voice barely a whisper.
On her left, the white-haired queen—Seris—had gone pale, her ice-blue eyes wide with shock. Her painted silver claws dug into her throne's armrest hard enough to crack the obsidian.
