The moment that presence touched my mind, the entire world seemed to quiet down in a very unnatural way. It was as if everything else had politely stepped aside to let something far more important take centre stage.
The bats were still moving above me, and the strange tune was still echoing somewhere in the distance.
Dudududu!
But both of those things felt distant now, like background noise that no longer demanded attention. What mattered was the thing in front of me. Or rather, the thing that had finally decided to stop pretending it was not there.
I pushed myself fully into the swarm, ignoring the way wings brushed against me, and landed on something that felt almost like ground but not quite real enough to trust. It held my weight, which was all I needed, and that was enough for now.
For a moment, I just stood there and looked around.
