"Who said you had a choice, dear?"
Reika's words landed softly, almost playfully, yet they struck the plaza with the weight of a blade drawn across a throat.
Shin Lu did not flinch.
Jagger did.
Even though Reika's gaze remained locked on Shin Lu, her presence flooded outward, an invisible pressure that crushed the air itself. Breathing became difficult. The rain felt heavier, thicker, as if gravity had subtly increased. Something ancient and instinctual clawed its way up Jagger's spine, urging him to lower his head, to avert his eyes, to kneel. It was not simple fear. It was recognition. The kind of prey felt when standing before an apex predator.
For a heartbeat, his knees nearly buckled.
'We should leave this place.'
Ophilia's voice slid into his mind like ice water poured down his skull.
'Being around people is only restricting our growth.'
