The hand was still there.
Holding her.
Firm.
Unyielding.
Real.
And for the first time since the nightmare began; since the voices, the blood, the accusations had swallowed her whole, Leah felt it.
The difference.
This wasn't part of it.
This wasn't the illusion.
This was something else.
Her breath hitched, uneven and broken, her chest rising in sharp, shallow pulls as her mind struggled to separate what she was feeling from what she had just endured. The darkness hadn't fully let go of her yet. It clung; thin, stubborn threads still wrapped around her thoughts.
Everything flickered.
The silhouettes were still there.
Faint now.
Distant.
But present.
Blood still dripped somewhere behind her vision; she could hear it, feel it, thick and warm against her skin. She could still see them; her friends, broken, torn, standing in that endless red, their voices echoing just beneath the surface.
"…you are death…"
"…you killed us…"
Her body tensed violently, a shudder running through her as the nightmare tried to pull her back in.
But the hand;
The hand held her.
Anchored her.
Reality and illusion began to overlap.
Glitching.
Breaking over each other in uneven waves.
For a moment, she felt the creature again; its grip still wrapped around her throat, cold and suffocating, her lungs still burning from the lack of air;
And at the same time;
She felt the hand on her arm.
Warm.
Alive.
Pulling her.
Leah gasped, her head jerking slightly as her vision fractured, splitting between two worlds that refused to separate cleanly.
She turned.
Slowly.
Uncertain.
Her eyes struggled to focus.
The figure holding her;
It flickered.
Distorted.
Breaking apart and reforming in rapid, unstable shifts.
For a second, it wasn't clear.
Just a shape.
Then;
It sharpened.
Thalia.
But not fully.
Her form glitched; fading at the edges, splitting into fragments before snapping back together again, like reality itself was struggling to hold her in place.
Leah's breath trembled.
"…Thalia…?"
Her voice was weak.
Barely there.
The world around them pulsed again; darkness pressing in, then pulling back. The blood, the silhouettes, the nightmare; it all flickered, trying to reassert itself, trying to drag her under again.
Leah's mind reeled.
It didn't make sense.
It couldn't make sense.
Her chest tightened as panic surged again, her thoughts spiraling, unable to decide what was real, what was still part of the illusion.
"This… this isn't real…" she whispered, shaking her head weakly.
But the hand;
Still there.
Still holding her.
Warm.
Strong.
It felt real.
Her voice cracked.
"…or is it…?"
For a moment.....
Everything paused.
Then;
The blood vanished.
Not faded.
Gone.
As if it had never been there at all.
The silhouettes collapsed into nothing, their forms snapping out of existence like broken reflections.
The voices;
Cut.
Silence slammed into her.
And suddenly;
There was no ground.
Leah felt it instantly.
That drop.
That empty, weightless pull beneath her.
Her stomach lurched violently as her body lost all sense of support, her limbs jerking instinctively as she began to fall.
Air rushed past her.
Cold.
Fast.
Her arms flung outward without control, fingers splayed, grasping at nothing. Her legs kicked reflexively, trying to find ground that wasn't there, her body twisting slightly in mid-air as panic surged through her.
"Wait!"
Her voice broke as the world spun around her, her balance completely gone. Her shoulders jerked as she tried to stabilize herself, her arms pulling inward, then pushing outward again, searching for something to hold onto.
Her legs bent sharply at the knees, then extended again, her body reacting purely on instinct as she tried to correct her fall. Her torso twisted slightly to one side, her head snapping upward as she tried to orient herself;
Then.....
A force.
Sudden.
Violent.
A push.
It hit her from behind.
Hard.
Her body lurched forward sharply, momentum snapping through her frame as the direction of her movement changed instantly.
She wasn't falling anymore.
She was being thrown.
Her arms shot forward, reaching instinctively toward the direction she was being forced into. Her fingers stretched wide, desperate to grasp something; anything; her shoulders straining as her body aligned with the motion.
Her legs kicked again, more controlled now, trying to follow the movement instead of resisting it. One leg extended forward slightly, the other trailing behind, her body angling itself mid-air as if trying to swim through the space around her.
Her breathing came in sharp bursts, her chest tight, her lungs still burning as she forced air in.
Then she felt it.
Warmth.
Faint at first.
But real.
It brushed against her skin; her hands, her face; like stepping into sunlight after being trapped in cold darkness.
And beneath that;
A sound.
Cracking.
Sharp.
Unstable.
Like something breaking apart right in front of her.
Leah's eyes widened, her body still moving forward, carried by the force of that push;
Toward whatever waited ahead.
Leah's body surged forward through the collapsing space, the force of Thalia's push still driving her ahead. The warmth grew stronger against her skin now; no longer faint, no longer distant; but sharp, almost burning, brushing across her hands, her face, her chest as if she were being pulled into something alive.
The cracking intensified around her.
Not the creature.
The portal.
Reality itself seemed to fracture along its edges, thin lines of light snapping inward, folding, collapsing, like a structure tearing itself apart.
Her vision steadied just enough;
And she saw.
Thalia.
Behind her.
Falling.
Not controlled.
Not resisting.
Just… falling.
Her body dropped backward through the mist, arms slack for a brief moment as exhaustion finally took her completely. Blood trailed from her, faint against the gray, her form slowly swallowed by distance.
Leah's breath caught violently.
"Thalia!"
Her voice tore out of her, desperate, breaking as she twisted mid-air, trying to turn back, her arm reaching instinctively toward her.
But she couldn't.
The force pulling her forward didn't loosen.
Didn't slow.
It dragged her away.
And beyond Thalia;
The creature.
It wasn't breaking.
It wasn't fading.
It was still there.
Still whole.
But now;
It screamed.
The sound ripped through the mist, violent and layered, like multiple voices tearing over each other in raw, unfiltered rage. Its body twisted sharply, cloak thrashing around it, its movements no longer calm or controlled but erratic; snapping, jerking, reacting to something it did not like.
The arrow remained buried deep in its arm.
Black blood poured from the wound, thick and unnatural, dripping heavily down its limb. Its claws flexed violently, cutting through the air as if trying to grasp something that wasn't there.
But it didn't fall.
Didn't weaken.
It endured.
Its head snapped toward Leah.
Even from that distance;
It was looking at her.
The scream deepened, distorted further, as if it was being dragged through something darker, something older. The sound followed her, clinging to her as she was pulled farther away.
Leah's chest tightened painfully.
"No…!"
Her hand stretched out again, fingers trembling, reaching back toward Thalia—
Toward the only thing still real behind her.
But the distance grew.
Relentless.
Unforgiving.
The creature's scream echoed again, louder, angrier, its body still twisting, still reacting; but not breaking.
Never breaking.
Then....
The portal.
Right in front of her.
It was collapsing fast now.
The light pulsed violently, its edges snapping inward, shrinking with every second. The glow flickered uncontrollably, flaring bright for an instant before dimming again, like something struggling to hold itself together.
Leah's body moved straight toward it.
Too fast.
Too sudden.
Her breath came in sharp, uneven bursts as realization hit her fully.
There was no stopping this.
Her arms pulled in slightly, then pushed forward again, instinctively bracing. Her fingers spread wide, reaching into the light, her shoulders tensing as her body aligned with the force dragging her in.
Her legs tightened beneath her, her entire form reacting without thought, preparing for impact, for transition; for something unknown.
Behind her;
Thalia fell.
The creature screamed.
And Leah;
Was seconds away from being taken.
The light surged.
Blinding.
Consuming everything in front of her.