Chapter 35 · The Final Hand

"Let go of me, Kane! You're shaking the whole damn floor!"

Evelyn's voice cracked, barely audible over the roar of the soul-void screaming around them. She wasn't just shouting; she was clawing at his forearm, her nails digging through the fabric of his sleeve into the skin.

Kane didn't let go. He couldn't. He had her pinned against the shimmering edge of the abyss, his body a shield between her and the crushing pressure of the merge. His pulse was hammering against his ribs like a trapped animal.

"I can't," Kane spat, his voice sounding like gravel grinding together. "If I let go now, the fragment doesn't just split—it erases us both. You want to be a memory? Because that's all that's left if we don't do this right."

"Right?" Evelyn laughed, a sharp, jagged sound. "We're falling into a black hole of our own consciousness, and you're talking about doing it *right*? Get your hands off me and let me fight it!"

"Fight what?" Kane yanked her closer, their chests colliding. He could feel her heart racing, a frantic rhythm that matched his own. "You can't fight a soul-merge, Eve. You just have to survive it.