"Haaah…" she exhaled slowly, as if the very act of speaking to me had been some exhausting ordeal. Then, with a lazy flick of her wrist, her voice lowered to something almost playful, though the malice beneath was unmistakable.
"No worries. I was only curious because you were a little nuisance in the paradise I've made for myself. But… if I can't understand you," her tone sharpened into steel, "I might as well erase you."
Every nerve in my body screamed. My instincts jolted awake before my mind could even process the words. In the same breath, her hand shot forward, fingers like spears, aimed directly for my face.
Swish!
I slipped to the side, water swirling in jagged ripples from the force of her strike. The movement was clean, almost effortless on my part, but it wasn't confidence that moved me—it was instinct.
And in that fleeting instant, I saw her clearly.
