Location: Mid Ring, Dark Forest - Kameko's dying place | Doha (Lower Realm)
Time: Day 460, Late Afternoon
The air tasted like iron and grief.
Kameko's breathing had grown shallower, each exhale rattling through her massive chest like wind through broken glass. Blood matted her obsidian fur, pooling beneath her shattered wings. The scent of it—hot copper mixed with forest loam—made Jayde's throat tight.
(She's dying. Really dying.)
The thought came unbidden, child-like in its simplicity. But the tactical part of her mind—the part that had seen too many deaths, assessed too many casualties—confirmed it with clinical precision. Lung puncture. Internal hemorrhaging. Blood loss critical. Minutes, not hours.
"You should rest," Jayde said quietly, reaching for her spatial ring. "Let me get you water—"
[No.] Kameko's mental voice carried weight despite its weakness. [Not yet. There's something... someone you need to meet first.]
