---
The whole womb tightened in on itself once, the surface pulling taut, and from inside it Lily's silhouette straightened further. She was not curled anymore. She was unfolding.
Sofia spoke from behind them, voice low and carrying.
"She comes."
Natasha said nothing, but the tension in her face confirmed the same recognition.
The shell gave a sound then.
Not a normal cracking sound.
Not stone. Not glass. Not egg.
A wet crystalline fracture, as though blood had learned to become crystal only so it could shatter more dramatically.
The first shard broke free.
It did not fall like ordinary matter.
It dissolved into red light halfway down and vanished into the dark of the Void Land.
Then another.
Then a whole section.
The shell split down the center.
Crimson light burst outward in a brief flare so bright that Auri had to lift one arm over her eyes. Vera and Vela both turned their faces slightly. Even Sekhmet had to narrow his eyes against it.
Then the glow softened.
