Mira's fingers are still wrapped around your throat when the world breaks.
Not cracks—breaks.
The air around her hand suddenly thickens, resisting her grip like she's trying to squeeze water. Her eyes widen in irritation, not fear.
You can't breathe.
Your vision darkens at the edges, pulsing in and out like a dying screen.
"Mira," you rasp. "Please."
She leans closer, her forehead almost touching yours.
"They said you'd beg," she whispers. "It makes it sweeter."
Behind her, the room warps.
The shadows fold inward like curtains being yanked back.
He moves.
Not with speed.
With decision.
The floor doesn't shatter as he lunges—it abandons its shape. Space collapses between him and Mira, and suddenly his hand is around her wrist, glowing with raw, burning sigils.
"Let them go," he snarls.
Mira hisses—not in pain, but in fury—and slams her free hand into his chest. The blast sends a wave of distorted energy ripping through the apartment, hurling furniture into the walls, blowing out every window in a scream of shattering glass.
Your body is thrown aside, rolling across the floor as the pressure around your throat vanishes.
You cough violently, dragging in air like it's the first breath you've ever taken.
"Mira!" you cry.
She and he crash through the far wall into the hallway beyond, tearing a gaping hole through concrete and wiring.
You scramble after them, heart hammering, lungs burning.
The hallway has transformed.
It no longer looks like a place meant for people.
The walls stretch upward into infinite black, veins of red light pulsing through them like a living organism. The floor undulates slightly underfoot, like the surface of something breathing.
Mira stands at the center of it all.
Her hair floats around her head, eyes glowing faintly now with something not her own.
He faces her, power flaring violently, runes blazing across his skin like burning brands.
"You cannot keep her," he says.
Mira laughs.
A sound so wrong it makes your stomach twist.
"She's gone," she replies. "You're too late."
"I am never too late," he snarls.
She gestures toward you.
"Then why are they still breaking?"
You feel it again.
The hollow inside your chest—your door—begins to tear open violently.
Agony erupts through your body.
You scream.
Your limbs lock up as invisible force yanks at your soul, trying to split you in two. It feels like something is trying to peel your existence apart, layer by layer.
"Mira!" you cry, voice raw. "Stop—please—"
Her gaze flicks to you, unreadable.
"You were my anchor," she says softly. "Now you're my weapon."
"No," he roars.
He lunges again, this time not at her—
But at you.
He grabs you by the shoulders.
"Look at me," he commands.
Your eyes struggle to focus through the pain.
"I am here," he says fiercely. "Not them. Me."
The agony intensifies.
Your scream tears out of you, breaking into sobs.
"She's killing me," you gasp. "I—I can feel her inside—"
He presses his forehead to yours.
"I know," he says. "And I am going to rip her out."
His power floods into you.
It's not gentle.
It's surgical.
Something inside you snaps open.
You feel everything—the tether to Mira, the bond, the invisible corridor connecting your souls.
You feel her.
Not as a person.
As a presence.
A hook buried deep in your being.
"Hold on," he whispers. "This will hurt."
You don't even have time to nod.
He pulls.
The pain is indescribable.
It's not just pain.
It's loss.
Like having someone you love torn out of your bones.
You convulse violently, screaming as the connection between you and Mira is yanked apart. Your vision explodes into white. Your body slams to the floor, muscles locking, every nerve firing at once.
You feel her resist.
You feel her scream inside you.
Then—
Silence.
The bond breaks.
You gasp, body shuddering, a hoarse cry ripping from your throat as the pressure vanishes.
Your chest burns.
Your head pounds.
But you are—
You are still you.
Alive.
Free.
You lie on the warped floor, shaking, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Mira…" you whisper.
She stands a few feet away, staring at her hands.
Her face twists.
Not in pain.
In rage.
"You took it," she snarls at him. "You took what made it quiet."
"That thing was killing them," he snaps. "And you."
Her eyes lift to you.
Something dark and calculating moves behind them.
"No," she says softly. "It was freeing me."
The space around her shivers.
You struggle to sit up.
"Mira, listen to me," you plead. "You're still here. You can come back."
She looks at you.
Really looks.
For a heartbeat, you see her.
Your Mira.
Scared. Confused. Trapped.
Then the other presence surges back up.
"No," she says coldly. "I don't want to."
A vortex of shadow and crimson light spirals around her.
He steps forward, power blazing.
"You will not leave like this," he says.
"Oh, but I will," she replies. "And next time, I won't need you."
She moves—
Not away from you.
Toward you.
She leans down, her face inches from yours.
Her eyes gleam with cruel affection.
"I'll be back," she whispers into your ear.
The words slide down your spine like ice.
Then she disappears.
Not vanishing.
Departing.
The hallway collapses back into itself. The apartment reforms around you, walls knitting back together, glass reassembling in the windows like nothing ever happened.
You lie on the floor, shaking violently, heart racing, throat raw from screaming.
He kneels beside you, hands trembling.
"Are you still here?" he asks softly.
You nod weakly.
"Yes," you whisper. "I think… I think so."
He closes his eyes briefly, relief flickering across his face before being swallowed by something heavier.
"She's gone," you say.
"Yes," he replies.
"And she's coming back."
"Yes."
You curl in on yourself, tears pouring down your face.
"I don't know how to fight her," you sob. "I don't even know who she is anymore."
He looks at you, expression fierce and sorrowful.
"You don't fight her," he says.
"Then what do I do?"
"You survive," he replies. "And when she returns… you remember who she was."
You stare at the empty space where Mira stood, heart breaking in slow, silent pieces.
"She said I was her weapon," you whisper.
"And you will be," he says quietly.
"But not for them."
The lights hum overhead.
The apartment is whole.
But nothing inside you is.
And somewhere out there—
Mira is walking away with something ancient inside her.
Smiling.