Alex walked toward his family at an unhurried pace, yet every step seemed to press down on the air itself. The ground did not tremble, and no visible force radiated from him, but the atmosphere carried a suffocating weight that none of them could ignore. It was not mere strength. It was authority, something far beyond anything they had ever witnessed or imagined.
His father and mother stood still, their expressions rigid and uncertain. They looked at him as though he had become something foreign, something no longer entirely human. Alex had always been strong. Even before everything changed, his abilities had exceeded normal limits. Yet that strength had still been within the boundaries of comprehension. What he displayed now was not.
Elizabeth was the first to speak, her voice steady but strained.
"Alex, what is going on?"
