Silence fell again.
But this time
It wasn't empty.
It was watching.
Breathing.
Aware.
The figure stood in the center of the void.
Still.
Unmoving.
Perfectly balanced between two existences
And yet belonging to neither.
Its eyes glowed faintly—
Not like Nyxara's shadowed power.
Not like Cassian's fractured force.
But something deeper.
Older.
Whole.
Nyxara felt it first.
Not as sight.
Not as sound.
But as presence.
"…Cassian."
Her voice came out… wrong.
Too smooth.
Too aligned.
Too… shared.
"I'm here," came the reply.
But it wasn't separate.
It echoed from the same place her voice had come from.
Inside.
Everywhere.
Nowhere.
Nyxara's thoughts spiraled.
"…why can I feel you like this?"
A pause.
Then
"…because we're not divided anymore."
That answer
Was too calm.
Too accepting.
Nyxara's panic spiked.
"No. No, that's not this isn't"
She tried to move
To pull away
To reclaim something
Anything
But the moment she tried
The body responded.
