---
The blood red sphere pulsed again. That one pulse was enough to stop the ugliest fear from fully taking root in Sekhmet's chest, but not enough to calm him.
If the system had warned him this could happen, he would have been afraid and prepared. Instead he had nothing.
A pulsing sphere.
A wife he could not reach.
A Void Land silent enough to hear his own thoughts turn poisonous.
Bat Bat was trying not to look frightened. Trying very hard, in fact. That only made the fear in her more obvious. Bat Bat was naturally loud in emotion. When she became small, it meant something had truly shaken her.
"Master," she whispered again, much more softly than she ever liked to sound, "say something."
Sekhmet forced himself to breathe once.
Then he spoke inwardly because there was no one else worth asking.
"System. What is going on with Lily? Is she alright?"
He did not get an answer at once.
That was bad.
The pause stretched just long enough to feel like an insult added to fear.
