Her thoughts shattered, spiraling wildly.
'How is it not an illusion…?!'
Her body tumbled across the grassland before finally crashing to a halt, carving a shallow trench through the earth. The scent of scorched grass and iron filled the air as faint wisps of black lightning still crackled weakly around her body.
For a moment…
She didn't move.
The battlefield fell into a suffocating silence.
Then—
A low sound escaped her lips.
A laugh.
"…ha…"
It was soft at first.
Unsteady.
Then it grew.
"Ha… haha…"
Her fingers twitched against the dirt as she slowly pushed herself up, strands of her hair clinging to her blood-stained lips. Her shoulders trembled, not from weakness…
But from something far more volatile.
Excitement.
Her eyes lifted.
And what stared back at me…
Was no longer the composed, untouchable Sylvia.
It was something sharper.
Something unhinged.
