The smell came first.
Not of death — death was a smell Kai knew from the underground rings, from the alleyways where someone waited too long to call for help. This was something else. Organic matter that hadn't decided if it was rotting or transforming.
Mara detected it at five hundred meters.
"Nausea," she said.
"Already?" Serah said.
"In a minute."
Kai felt the acid in his throat at four hundred meters. The resonance Qi responded without him deciding it — the air's frequency clashing with his, the Qi filtering by default.
The nausea cut off.
Mara looked at him.
"You?"
"Not anymore."
"And us."
Kai looked at her.
He moved two steps closer to Serah, two to Lira, two to Mara.
All three within two meters of him.
The nausea cut off for all three.
---
[DraconicLegacy]: THE QI FILTERING THE AIR FOR ALL THREE. without Kai deciding it.
[Stephen_Summers]: two steps to each. two-meter radius. passive shield.
