The moment was not still…
It was shrinking.
As if time itself had lost its balance, and as if the distance between things was no longer measured as it once was, but was being pulled, folded, pushed toward a single point from which there is no escape—and at the heart of that point—was Eileen, standing, unmoving, her eyes fixed on that entity which was no longer merely a bird, but an overwhelming presence imposing itself on everything around it.
It was approaching.
Not quickly… but with weight.
A slow approach, yet inevitable, devouring the distance without haste, as if escaping from it was a meaningless idea to begin with.
It grew in her sight.
More.
Until the light around it began to crack, to shatter, as if the sky itself was unable to contain its expansion. Its wings spread to their full extent, not as a motion of flight, but as dominance, as a shadow widening to cover what lay beneath it. Every beat of its wings was not an ordinary sound, but a shock of air striking the body from within, shaking the bones before reaching the ears.
Eileen felt her breaths vanish.
She was no longer able to draw air as she should, her chest tightened, as if something pressed on it from within, and her eyes could not turn away from it, as if she was forced to look, as if that entity was not only approaching her…
…but pulling her toward it.
She did not understand why.
She did not understand why it—
was heading toward her specifically.
But the feeling was clear, leaving no doubt.
As if it knew her.
As if… it had chosen her.
Something inside her trembled, something she could not name, not only fear, but a vague awareness that this moment was not passing, and that what was happening before her was not coincidence.
Amid that pressure that began to coil around her, weighing down the air, distorting the light, making everything seem farther than it was—
A voice burst out.
Azira's voice.
But this time it was not calm, nor did it carry that balanced authority, but came out sharp, cutting, like a command that could not be delayed:
"Leave now!"
Eileen shook from within.
She turned toward her slowly, her eyes filled with shock, with confusion, as if the words had reached her, but had not found their way into understanding.
"Where…?"
The question came out of her weakly, but it was sincere, strained, as if she was holding onto any meaning in the middle of this collapse she did not understand.
But no answer.
Because the bird—
did not stop.
It came closer.
And the air became unbearable, it surged toward her violently, wrapped around her body, pulled her, as if the entire place was pressing on her, trying to throw her down, or swallow her.
She raised her hand without awareness, trying to push what cannot be pushed, trying to protect herself from something that cannot be touched, and her eyes trembled, the image before her narrowed, came closer, until nothing remained in her sight except that massive shadow.
"This… is not real…"
she whispered, as if convincing herself.
But the feeling was stronger than words.
It came closer.
Until she felt as if it would collide with her.
Until its presence became—
absolute.
"Disappear… please…"
This time her voice came closer to a plea, but it was lost within the roar of the air and the weight of the moment.
And in the moment when the approach reached a point that could no longer be endured—
The vision shattered before it was completed, not like an image fading calmly, but like a fabric torn all at once, as if a hidden force ripped it away from that scene before it could reach its end. The light was pulled away from around her, the sounds were cut off, the sense of place disappeared, until nothing remained but a fleeting empty moment that held no form and no direction—
And in that same moment, without any pause that would give her a chance to understand—
Eileen opened her eyes.
She remained lying as she was, her body did not move, and her eyes stayed wide open, staring upward without focus, as if what she saw had not left her, but remained stuck behind her gaze, refusing to end.
Above her, the branches were intertwined, overlapping each other, blocking the sky and preventing it from appearing, allowing the light only to seep through in weak, broken threads, passing between them with difficulty, drawing unstable shadows before her eyes.
She kept looking.
In silence.
For seconds that stretched longer than they should.
As if she did not understand what she was seeing… or did not know where she was.
The scene was still.
Calm.
But inside her—
there was no calm at all.
Then—
The image returned.
Suddenly.
Complete.
Clear.
Close.
The bird.
The approach.
The voice.
It did not come as a distant memory, but as a present shock, as if it had not ended at all, but had waited for this moment to strike her again.
Her body tightened all at once, and it thrust forward with sudden force, as if the vision pushed her from within. Her hand rose quickly to her chest, pressing on it violently, as if she was trying to contain that heartbeat that burst inside her without order.
A sharp gasp came out of her.
Her breaths quickened.
Chased one another.
Unable to settle.
And her heart—
was beating with unnatural force, faster than it should, harsher, as if it had not calmed since that moment.
But—
something else began to change.
A light sensation.
Unfamiliar.
In her extremities.
She paused.
Her breaths were still disturbed, but she lowered her gaze slowly, as if drawn to that sensation without understanding it.
Her fingers…
were not still.
The energy that seemed to shrink for a moment surged again, stronger than it had been, and the blue light that was faint at her extremities began to pulse clearly, not as a passing flicker, but as a living pulse, repeating with an irregular rhythm.
And with each pulse—
a fine energy emerged, slipped between the veins of her extremities, and spread slowly inside her, not exploding, but flowing, moving with a strange calm, as if searching for a path that had not been opened before.
She kept staring.
Silent.
Not understanding.
But she felt.
The sensation was no longer light as it was, but increased, deepened, extended from her extremities toward the inside, leaving behind a strange trace, warm… but not comfortable, familiar… but not fully belonging to her.
She tightened her fingers slightly, as if trying to stop that expansion, but the light did not fade, but continued, pulsing, and allowing that energy to expand more inside her.
"…What is this?"
Her voice came out low, hesitant, as if the words themselves struggled to find their way.
But no answer.
Only that light.
And only that energy that began to settle… more.
"Eileen…?"
The voice came from her side, calm, but not without tension, carrying in its tone something of caution, as if its owner was not only approaching her, but observing her, trying to understand what had happened without touching it.
Eileen's eyes lifted quickly, as if she was pulled back to reality by force. Her gaze moved from her hands to the direction the voice came from, and she remained for a moment looking, without answering, without moving, as if she was still trying to connect what she had been… with what she is now.
Rafa was there.
Standing at a short distance, her steps stopped before coming closer, and her eyes fixed on Eileen precisely, not looking at her in a normal way, but as if observing a change that had occurred, something that was not there moments ago.
She kept looking at her for seconds, then said, in a low, tense voice:
"Did… you wake up?"
Eileen did not answer immediately.
Her gaze moved slowly, as if coming out from within herself, passed over the trees, the ground, the emptiness around them, as if she was seeing everything for the first time, or as if she was not sure whether this place was real at all.
"Where… am I…?"
The question came out slowly, broken, as if the words themselves were heavy in her mouth, needing effort to come out.
Rafa paused for a moment, her expression changed. The answer was not difficult… but the way the question was asked made it so.
"Eileen… we are still in the forest."
Eileen's eyes widened slightly.
The forest…?
She lowered her hand from her chest, but her heartbeat did not calm, nor that feeling that remained stuck inside her, as if she was still there… in another place that had not separated from her yet.
"No…"
she whispered, her voice carrying a faint refusal, not of the place… but of what she felt.
"I was… in another place…"
She paused, as if trying to hold onto the details before they were lost.
"It was not here…"
She looked at Rafa.
"It was different…"
But the words stopped at that point, because the idea itself did not complete inside her, and because the feeling was larger than to be said easily.
Then—
She froze.
One thought pierced through everything before it.
Ryan.
She lifted her head suddenly, as if remembering something that should not have been forgotten.
"Ray!"
Her voice came sharp, stronger than it was moments before.
"Ray hasn't come back yet!"
Rafa looked at her, she was not surprised by the shout, but she did not have an answer that would change anything.
"No… there is nothing new…"
She paused for a moment, her gaze passed over the place around them.
"The place… is quieter than it should be."
The silence that followed her words was not comfortable.
It was not natural stillness.
But a heavy emptiness, as if something that should be here… was not.
Eileen breathed slowly, trying to regain her balance, but her mind did not calm.
"I was…"
she said in a low voice.
"In another world…"
She raised her gaze toward Rafa, as if trying to make her see what she had seen.
"I thought… I had died…"
She swallowed, her voice became calmer… but heavier.
"There was no one beside me… only me… and people I do not know…"
She stopped.
Because something else pulled her attention.
Her gaze shifted slowly.
Then stopped.
Sera.
Her body was as it was… lying… still.
But that stillness was not natural.
Something was changing.
Slowly.
Without sound.
A red energy began to seep from her body, not bursting, but condensing, gathering, as if pulsing from within, as if something was moving under her surface without appearing fully.
Eileen froze.
She did not complete her words.
She moved toward her immediately, her steps faster than her thoughts, and Rafa followed her without hesitation.
"What is happening to her?"
Eileen said, and her voice was no longer calm.
Rafa looked with focus, her eyes narrowed, trying to understand.
"I do not know… her pulse was stable…"
Eileen knelt beside Sera, her hand extended without hesitation, and settled on her chest.
And in the moment she touched her—
She felt it.
A pulse.
Fast.
Irregular.
Beating strongly, as if trying to get out.
Her eyes widened.
"She is not okay…"
she said with clear concern.
"Her pulse… is not stable."
Rafa looked at her, then at Sera.
"You were like this too a moment ago… I thought you were in a nightmare."
Eileen shook her head slowly.
Her eyes did not leave Sera.
"It was not a nightmare…"
she said in a low voice.
"If not for what appeared at the end…"
Rafa raised her gaze to her.
"What do you mean?"
But Eileen did not answer.
She kept looking at Sera.
Fear began to appear in her eyes more clearly.
Then she said, in a tense voice:
"We must focus on Sera now…"
She paused for a moment.
"She must wake up."
Rafa nodded.
"You are right."
Silence fell again.
But it was not like before.
It was heavier.
Closer.
As if something was approaching—
from the inside this time.
Both of them looked at Sera.
With the same worry.
With the same question that was not spoken aloud…
What are you seeing… Sera?