The words glowed faintly on the wall—Choose now.

Two paths stretched ahead, one swallowed in shadow, the other brushed with a weak, unnatural glow. The air pressed down like wet cloth, thick with the metallic tang of dust and something older, something buried. Neither of them moved.

Celine’s chest tightened. She could almost hear her own heartbeat, fast and frantic. Liam stood close, his shoulders squared but rigid, as if bracing for a blow. The silence dragged, not empty but charged, ...