The silence was dense.
Not like the end of a battle. But like the instant before the truth.
Spiritual dust danced in the air like ashes from an ancient fire, and the Guardian's body lay, shattered, immersed in a collapse of light and emptiness. The ethereal field oscillated, breathing unevenly, as if reality itself was trying to understand what had just happened.
"Fuck..." Scarlet gasped. Blood dripped from the corner of her mouth, evaporating into crimson mist returning to her body with her overhealing.
"What the fuck." Strax stood firm, sword still in hand, but there was a tension in his gaze - as if his instincts, the oldest ones, were telling him what his mind couldn't yet accept.
And then... a tremor came from the Guardian.
He breathed.
Not with his lungs.
With the world.
Reality shook.
