Silence reclaimed the ruins with a slow, suffocating patience.
It did not return all at once, nor did it fall like a curtain over the shattered remains of what had once been a functioning structure. Instead, it seeped into the fractured halls in gradual layers, settling into every broken surface and hollowed crevice, until the echoes of violence that had recently torn through the space were swallowed completely.
Moments ago, the air had trembled under the weight of power—sharp, precise, and merciless in execution.
Now, it felt distant.
Almost unreal.
Dust drifted through the dim interior, suspended in thin shafts of fading light that filtered through jagged cracks in the collapsed ceiling above. Each particle floated lazily, untouched by urgency, as though time itself had slowed in reverence to the aftermath. The faint scent of scorched stone lingered in the air, mingled with something subtler—residual energy, fading but not yet gone.
A quiet reminder.
