Chapter 17: Ep 17 - Shatterpoint
The crystal hum of the Spire deepened as Kurumi pressed her gloved palm to the containment glyph. A pulse of warmth licked her skin, and for a moment, she swore she heard someone sigh inside.
She exhaled sharply, hand trembling.
"Focus," she muttered to herself. "Mind stable. Glyphs aligned. No leaks."
But the glyphs weren't aligned. Not anymore.
They pulsed in time with her heartbeat.
The Queen's stasis crystal, once pristine and silent, now shimmered with a sickly inner fire. Fresha's hair floated like silver ink in the gel, her eyes half-lidded and flickering beneath lashes that hadn't moved in years.
Kurumi didn't notice the first hallucination.
A strand of hair brushed her cheek.
Except she had tied her hair back this morning. Tightly.
She reached up slowly—nothing there.
Then she saw it. Not in the crystal—but behind it.