From the periphery, Eris watched. She stayed back, out of the immediate line of fire, but her mind was as active as her body was failing.
She saw the cracks in Vetra's armor, not just the physical ones, but the psychological ones.
She's trying to destabilize him, Eris thought, her teeth gritted against the agony in her ribs.
She's trying to find the boy she broke and pull him back to the surface. But she saw Soren's mastery of himself, and a fierce, pained pride flared in her chest.
Eris's own state was deteriorating rapidly. The seal on her chest was no longer just a metaphor; the fracture lines were spreading across her collarbone like gold-tinted porcelain.
Pyronox's power was seeping through, no longer a tool she commanded but a fire that was consuming the vessel from the inside out.
She stayed upright through sheer, jagged willpower, refusing to let the light show Soren the truth of her ticking clock.
