Chapter 14 · The Price of Awakening

"Get back from the gate, Rowan! Now!"

Mara’s voice cracked like a whip. Her hand slammed into my chest, shoving me hard.

I didn't budge. My boots were glued to the mercury-slick floor. I couldn't look away from that massive, grey palm pressed against the portal’s shimmering surface. It wasn't just a hand. It was a claim. The skin looked like melted wax, and the heat radiating from the breach was already singeing my eyebrows.

"It's calling me," I whispered. My voice sounded wrong. Like it belonged to someone else.

"Don't give me that existential crisis bullshit right now," Mara snapped. She stepped in front of me, her blade humming as it sliced the air, throwing up a shimmering barrier of kinetic energy. "Veyra said you made this thing. That means you know how to kill it. Do you? Or are you just gonna stand there and let it shake hands with your soul?"

I looked past her. Veyra was leaning against a rusted pillar, wearing a look of pure, sadistic amusement. She held the ledger—the heavy book tracking every death and reset in Ironvale—