For one terrifying second
Camille thought she died.
White light consumed everything.
Not brightness.
Not heat.
Something deeper.
It felt like pieces of her mind were being ripped apart and scattered into endless emptiness while memories flashed violently behind her eyes.
Dante. The system. The creatures. The fear. The connection.
Everything shattered at once.
She heard screaming somewhere far away.
Maybe her own.
Then suddenly
silence.
Complete silence.
Camille's eyes opened slowly.
Darkness greeted her first.
Cold concrete beneath her hands.
The distant sound of collapsing metal echoed faintly around her.
Pain throbbed behind her skull.
But the unbearable pressure inside her mind
the constant strange awareness she hadn't even fully realized existed
was gone.
Completely gone.
The synchronization.
Gone.
Camille pushed herself upright weakly coughing hard as smoke filled the underground chamber around her.
The synchronization core had shattered completely.
