Chapter — The Echo Beneath the Ice
They walked for nearly an hour before anyone spoke again.
Not because there was nothing to say.
Because there was too much.
The battlefield disappeared behind them slowly, swallowed by the endless white expanse. The shattered remains of the entity became nothing more than a dark mark against the horizon, a scar carved into the frozen landscape.
Neo walked at the front.
Not because he wanted to lead.
Because he needed to move.
Stopping meant thinking.
And thinking meant remembering the moment when the entity had broken.
Not physically.
Something else.
The hesitation.
The pause.
The impossible feeling that, for a fraction of a second, it hadn't been an enemy.
It had been something trapped.
"You're doing it again."
Neo glanced back.
Lira walked beside him, her arms folded behind her head.
"Doing what?"
"Thinking too loudly."
He raised an eyebrow.
"That's not a thing."
"It absolutely is."
"According to who?"
"According to me."
