Nyxara couldn't breathe.
Not because something was choking her.
Not because she lacked air.
But because something inside her
Was changing.
The fragment.
It pulsed violently within her chest, no longer quiet, no longer hidden. It was awake now fully awake and it wasn't waiting anymore.
It was pushing.
Taking.
Rewriting.
Nyxara staggered backward, her hand clutching her chest as a sharp, burning sensation spread through her veins.
"No… not now…"
Her voice trembled, barely holding together the control she had spent years mastering.
Across from her, the girl the version of herself she had buried long ago watched silently.
Not afraid.
Not surprised.
Just… waiting.
"You're losing," the girl said softly.
Nyxara's eyes snapped up, fury flashing through them.
"I don't lose."
But even as she said it
Her power flickered.
The shadows around her hesitated, unstable, no longer fully hers to command.
The girl tilted her head slightly.
"Then why are you shaking?"
