POV: Kael

The moment Lyra vanished, the world went quiet in a way that felt profoundly wrong, like a heart forgetting how to beat while the body remained stubbornly alive.

There was no explosion. No triumphant roar from the Void, no divine thunder to mark the end of an age. The medallion sealed itself with a low, resonant sound; final and absolute, like stone sliding into place over a grave. The violent pull at my chest ceased, the wind collapsed inward, and the howling pressure that had ...