Shi didn't run. He flew. His four legs, powerful pistons of muscle and bone, churned beneath us. The world was a blur of black rock and violet light that was already fading, being eaten by the blinding white glare behind us. I was thrown over his shoulder like a sack of grain, the breath knocked out of my lungs, my body bouncing with every long, ground-eating stride. Astra was clutched tight against my chest, its core a frantic, humming bird of panicked light.
The sound was the worst part. It was a high-pitched whine that drilled into your skull, a scream of pure energy that promised annihilation. It was the sound of a star being born and a world dying, all at once. It grew louder, higher, more desperate, a rising tide of sound that was about to crest and crash and wash us away into nothing.
"Hold on!" Shi's voice was a raw roar in my ear.
