Everything did not explode.
It loosened.
That was the first thing Rue Yim understood as the threads screamed without sound and the chamber folded in on itself. There was no single point of destruction, no clean break. Instead, tension that had been pulled impossibly tight across worlds began to slip.
Unraveling.
Not outward.
Not inward.
But everywhere at once.
Her hand was still against Saya.
Or where Saya had been.
Or where Saya was becoming.
The distinction blurred.
Rue Yim felt it immediately—not as heat, not as force—but as overlap. Layers of presence pressing through her senses without permission.
Memories that were not hers.
Perceptions that did not belong to a single mind.
Time folding incorrectly.
She staggered—but didn't pull away.
If she let go now—
This would snap back.
Worse than before.
"Hold her!"
Wang Si's voice cut through the distortion.
Sharp. Grounded. Real.
Something slammed into Rue Yim's side—not violently, but firmly.
His hand.
