Chapter 163: The Price of a Heartbeat
Flight through a nullified landscape was a special kind of terror. The land itself was a snare. Patches of earth that looked solid gave way to a brittle, ashen crust, the physical form lingering after its essence had been consumed. Sounds didn't carry properly, making it impossible to gauge the distance of their pursuers by ear. The only constant was the rising, furious whine of the Nullifier prototype behind them, a sound that was less a noise and more a vacuum trying to suck the world into its mouth.
Lyra led, not by sight, but by a terrible, new instinct. She navigated the dead zones as if they were acid pools, her skin prickling with the wrongness. She chose paths that were resonantly 'loud' with leftover anger or sorrow emotions the Nullifier had missed or dismissed as too chaotic. It was like running through a haunted house, seeking out the ghosts for cover.
