It started as a faint tingle—like static electricity crawling over every inch of his skin, raising goosebumps in violent waves. The fine hairs at the nape of Phei's neck snapped upright, rigid as needles. His muscles locked next; shoulders, spine, thighs—all of him tensing into one rigid, trembling wire.
Then an aura hit.
Something thicker, heavier, alive. It wrapped around him like molten silk poured from above, cocooning his body in invisible layers that grew denser with every heartbeat.
The air thickened until breathing felt like sucking syrup through a straw. Colors at the edges of his vision bled, the garden's lush greens and golds smearing into feverish watercolor.
His ears popped with a soft, wet sound, as if the world itself had just sealed shut around him.
Before he could even scream what the fuck—, she was there.
Behind him.
