For a moment, everything went silent.
No wind. No sound. Just the faint hum of frozen air splitting apart.
The Titan's roar still hung in the distance, half pain, half rage, as shards of ice the size of houses plummeted through the clouds below. Each one glowed faintly with an inner blue light, like dying stars.
Dawn hovered midair, his golden slide reforming beneath his boots. His grip tightened on the bow, its light dimming to a steady, burning pulse. He scanned the chaos, breath sharp in his throat.
The black-haired man stood on a platform of writhing shadows, his posture eerily calm. His eyes were half-lidded, but his presence warped the air around him, oppressive, heavy, ancient.
> [Unknown Resonance detected.] <
[Sequence alignment unstable.] <
"Yeah," Dawn muttered, eyes narrowing. "You don't say…"
He didn't lower his weapon. That power, that precision, it wasn't human. Whoever this man was, he'd confirmed Dawn's suspicion these people are not human.
The black-haired man finally spoke, his voice low and distant. "That sequence of yours it's very beautiful."
Dawn frowned. "Thats all you have to say..."
The man didn't answer. His gaze turned skyward, toward the titan. "Move!"
The warning came too late.
A wall of ice erupted beneath them, the Titan's arm tearing through the fog like a glacier coming to life. Dawn twisted midair, barely avoiding the blow, the shockwave shattering the golden platform beneath his feet.
"Elara!" the black haired man shouted.
"Already on it!" her voice rang out.
Silver light bloomed across the sky, forming intricate, geometric runes that pulsed in rhythm with her heartbeat. The air around her shimmered, bending like glass, and in the next instant, the Titan's strike froze mid-swing. The ice cracked, time itself stuttering for half a second.
Dawn's eyes widened. "That ability again damnit is that arcana or not…?"
Elara's voice strained. "Don't just stare, shoot!"
He drew back the bowstring, golden energy coiling like liquid fire. "Got it!"
He released, and the arrow tore through the sky like a comet, slamming into the Titan's chest. The explosion painted the clouds gold and blue, vaporizing the mist in an instant.
But the creature didn't fall.
Instead, a second Titan burst from the haze to their left, smaller, faster, shards of frost spiraling around its form like a blizzard given shape.
"Two of them," Dawn hissed. "You've gotta be kidding me."
The golden-haired man finally stepped forward, his voice calm but commanding. "Stay clear."
Golden radiance erupted from his body, but unlike Dawn's, it wasn't wild or radiant, it was ordered, like light given discipline. The clouds parted beneath his feet, the air trembling as concentric sigils spun behind him.
He raised one hand and spoke, voice resonant and absolute.
"Let there be light."
And the sky broke.
Blinding golden arcs lanced down from above, slicing through the second Titan's arm and cleaving it clean off. The roar that followed shook the very heavens.
Strangely enough, when that second Titan's arms were severed, even though the first Glacial Titan still stood, both began to lose their color, their crystalline glow fading to dull stone. Then, they fell.
And yet… there was no sound of impact.
No crash. No quake. Nothing.
But during the battle, they could hear movement. The rumble of something far below, too deep to see, too vast to comprehend.
"Just how big were those bastards…?" Dawn muttered.
Elara lowered her hand, sweat glistening on her brow. "You always overdo it, don't you?"
The man didn't look at her. His gaze was distant, unreadable.
"That creature didn't exist before the Reversion… just how long have we been gone?"
Dawn steadied his breath, eyes flicking between them. "That word again…"
The golden-haired man simply frowned. The silence that followed felt heavier than before, as if the sky itself was holding its breath.
Now, only one thought remained,
not just in Dawn's mind, but in all of theirs:
Where the hell are they?