The hologram burst into a brilliant display, flickering and distorting under the oppressive weight of static, only to disintegrate into nothingness moments later. In that fleeting instant, the crystal within Ezra's grasp began to lose its luminescence, dimming as he fixated on the worn surface of the table before him, as if the worn wood might suddenly yield up the answers he so desperately sought.
He remained utterly still, his breath coming in sharp, uneven gasps, his mind racing through a torrent of thoughts. This wasn't about betrayal; it was something far deeper. Kael had not been a seeker of power; rather, he had stood firm against its allure. The fury that Veyra wielded was rooted in a single, irrevocable decision Kael had made, one that was wholly unpardonable in her eyes: he had chosen to say no.
A deep, painful shame twisted within Ezra's chest, a sensation that burned hot and cut deeply. All the deceptive whispers that Nico had spun around him, all the dire warnings Veyra had imparted—they crumbled into dust in the face of this revelation. He had thought of Kael as the true monster in their narrative. But now, with this harsh clarity illuminating the shadows, he understood that the truth, reflected back at him amidst the ruins of that choice, was something entirely different.
The woman's gaze rested on him, her eyes soft yet penetrating, as if she could see right through his defenses. "Do you finally understand, Ezra?" she asked, her tone imbued with a gentle urgency. "The narrative is far more complex than what others have led you to believe."
Just as he gathered his thoughts to respond, a sudden, jarring buzz rattled the windowpane, slicing through the atmosphere like a knife. The smooth notes of jazz shattered abruptly as a drone's laser beam carved through the glass, igniting a chorus of panic within the room.
Ezra instinctively crouched low, whispering to himself, "Well, it seems Veyra is now after me." He held the crystal tightly against his chest, feeling its coolness juxtaposed against the chaos that was erupting around him. The world outside was ablaze with turmoil once more, but this time the flames inside him were laced with a new complexity—truth and love were interwoven with stark terror.
And he knew, with unsettling certainty, that Veyra would stop at nothing until both Kael and potentially himself were merely remnants of ash.