The world was silent, as if the planet itself was holding its breath.
From the surface, the night looked deceptively tranquil—stars glittered like harmless sparks scattered across the velvet of space. But beyond the firmament, where mortal sight failed, reality had begun to fracture.
:::
PoV: Aurea
So.
Of all the possible places to have a decisive confrontation with a rogue goddess, it had to be in literal outer space again. What a ridiculous trope.
We are in one of those air bubbles that Mom likes to make, just like the first time she brought me here to show the planet from above.
The same feeling of unreality hits me for a moment: the curve of the barren continent below, the thin halo of atmosphere, and the black void full of stars that look like someone spilled glitter on an infinite piece of dark cloth.
The difference is that this time, there is a dragon the size of a small moon in front of us. And Juno.
And we are not here to sightsee.
