(POV Split: Leo • Amaya • Unknown)
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The whisper didn't belong in the living world.
It curled through the cavern like a dying breath—thin, brittle, wrong.
"…Found… you…"
But Leo didn't hear it.
He was too busy holding Amaya, terrified by how cold her fingers had grown. Too busy fighting the trembling in his own chest as he looked between her face and his father's unmoving body. Too busy trying to be strong for both of them when he felt like he was breaking apart.
He didn't feel the ripple in the air behind him.
Didn't see the faint distortion pooling behind the collapsed priestess like ink bleeding through water.
Didn't notice her fingers twitch.
He only held Amaya closer.
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Leo POV
"Stay with me," he whispered, voice cracking. "I can get you out. I'll carry you. We'll go to the healers—"
Amaya shook her head weakly.
"No… no healers. They can't help with divine burn…"
