Chapter 55 Shards Of Aftermath

• The air split open like a ragged wound, and the survivors tumbled out one by one, collapsing into the brittle grass of the forest clearing. The ground beneath them was damp with dew, the trees heavy with silence, but after the nightmare of shifting reflections and endless corridors, even silence felt like a miracle.
• Lucia hit the earth hard, the breath knocked from her lungs. She coughed, her chest burning, vision swimming in and out. Her knees gave way, and she would have toppled fully had Kelvin not staggered after her, catching her against his chest. His arms tightened instinctively, as though afraid she might still be snatched back into the glass prison.
• “It’s over,” he rasped, though his own voice was strained, raw. His shirt was torn at the shoulder, streaked with blood that wasn’t all his own.