[First POV-Theo]
My palm stays pressed against the narrow window, fingers spread against the cold surface.
The stone feels wrong. Not just cold from being underground, but dense in a way that makes my skin prickle. Like it is aware I am touching it.
Below, I can barely see the chamber clearly anymore. The angle is awkward, and whatever barrier separates this space from the one Kyrene is in distorts sound and light. Still, I saw enough before the floor shifted and boxed me in.
Enough to know that Kyrene is not simply what he appears to be.
I replay it in my head.
The way the air bent around him.
The way the pressure in the room changed for a heartbeat.
And that shape.
It was faint but not solid either. Not something I could point at and confidently describe. But it was there, like heat rising off stone. A curve behind him. A ripple that did not belong to the chamber.
For the briefest second, it looked like a tail made of light.
Or maybe several.
