Chapter 50: Trials of the Awakened (1)
The holographic countdown still pulsed in the chamber, its numbers burning themselves into everyone's eyes.
100 days.
The glow was cold, unrelenting—like a judge handing down a sentence. Silence pressed down on them, heavy enough to crush.
Ava exhaled, her fingers twitching against her thigh. Her voice cracked the stillness, softer than she meant it to be.
"...One hundred days."
Brian's fists clenched, the sound of bone grinding loud in the hush. "We lost nearly half our time in a blink."
Zephyr's smirk had finally vanished. He dragged a hand down his face, muttering, "That's—yeah, that's not great."
Kael's gaze stayed locked on the projection, calm but rigid, like he'd been carved from the same white walls around them. "It means we adapt. Faster. Harder."
