𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐄
"Remember the parapet, Lena!" Kaia's voice snarled in my mind, the mental link flashing with a vivid image of the high, stone ledges I used to navigate. "You walked them blindfolded. You balanced on the edge of the abyss before. You can do this too!"
The memory struck like an electric current, steadying the wild lurch of my stomach. This was no different from balancing on a knife's edge. It was just another tightrope walk between survival and destruction.
"Put distance between us!" Kaia urged, her spiritual claws digging in. "Make space so we can read her!"
I did just that. Forcing my hyperventilating lungs to even out, I scrambled backward, my bare feet digging into the coarse grains as I threw myself into a rapid succession of backsteps. I needed room to breathe, room to decode the pitch-black chaos of the arena.
With every ounce of my vision stolen by the relic, my world narrowed down to the soles of my feet.
