Page 55 of Court of Aether and Shadows

As if the daring thought triggered the world around me to shift, I noticed the edge of my vision began to blur — reality seeming to ripple like a heat haze on a summer day.

I blinked hard, attempting to clear my sight and get out of this peculiar bewilderment, but the distortion only intensified.

Suddenly, I wasn't just looking through my scope – I was seeingbeyondit. The target, a man who had seemed so ordinary moments before, now appeared... different.Inhuman.

How he posed in dropped clothes of silk, raising his hands like he was praising some sort of hymn. His eyes bled darkness, and around him swirled tendrils of sickly light that connected to shadowy figures I could barely make out.

"What the hell?" I muttered, my heart racing.

This couldn't be real. It had to be some kind of hallucination, a delayed effect of something strange in the atmosphere. I wanted to warn the others that there may be some sort of chemical fuming in this place, but how about if there wasn’t?

I could be losing my fucking marbles and not realize it.

The annoying part of all of this was how my questionable insanity enjoyed coming out to play in dangerous situations.

"Sparrow? Status report." Liam's voice, tight with concern, cut through my confusion. Truthfully, I didn’t understand why he was speaking through the intercom and not Vincent.

It hadn’t been that long since they’d heard from me. Only a minute or two? Maybe three? Okay…I haven’t been payingattention to how long I’ve been silent, but surely I can’t be the only one seeing this madness.

I opened my mouth to respond, to tell them something was wrong, but no words came out. In fact, I realized rather quickly how frozen the world was around me.

A haunting stillness that made my heart beat faster against my chest, while my wide eyes burned with a form of energy I couldn’t quite grasp. The sensation was on the move, trailing down my arms and igniting an odd sense of power I couldn’t describe in simple words.

I felt the tightness begin to wrap around my neck, coiling with purpose as the warmth of foreign sizzle fought to escape. I dared try to cough — to plead for help — but my silence only continued, despite the fear of choking to death.

The target’s gaze soon fell upon mine — impossibly aware of my presence, despite the distance between us. Flickers of intrigue washed over his pale complexion, while he tilted his head to one side, an inhuman act that would have cracked one’s neck permanently.

A cruel smile curved upon his lips, just as I began to feel warmth drip from my nose. His gaze felt too strong. Too heavy for anyone to maintain for too long. That could have been why it felt like my eyes were dripping, but surely it wasn’t tears.The liquid was thicker. More vital for my survival, but what could I do to break the spell I was trapped under?

I needed help.

To fight for the salvation slipping out of my grasp.

I heard his voice in my mind as clearly as if he were standing next to me.

"You're next, little bird,"he sneered with triumph.“I’ve awaited your rebirth. Been seeking far and wide foryour redemption. Now look where you are,”he breathes so effortlessly while I’m struggling to not give in to the seeping pull of my unconscious.

Black spots are forming in my line of vision, and I hear someone calling to me desperately. A plea to breathe? A hymn of starlight and power ordering me to prevail."Your power will be a fine addition to my collection."

Who…are…you?

The dared thought makes the glee in his gaze only further rise.

“Your beginning, little bird,”he praises.“Your beginning…and your end.”

Fear and rage warred within me as I realized I danced with Death in my grasp. But then a hiss of snarling scrutiny pierced through the barrier of stillness — the shite of a slithering white surface of scales shooting from between my eyes and biting forward in threatening force.

I felt something snap, a well of power I couldn’t think someone like me would possess, but its outbreak burst all around, shattering bonds of glimmering black glass, awakening twinkles of cyan and red petals of loose tranquility.

My vision sharpened with preternatural clarity as I was suddenly back in my body. Time seemed to slow as I exhaled nervously, my ears picking up the strained sound that seemed like it took eons to execute.

I couldn’t dare delay as my finger squeezed the trigger with absolute certainty.

The crack of the rifle was lost in the sudden cacophony of alarms and shouts. Through my intercom, I heard Vincent barking orders as our allied forces stormed the building. But I remained frozen in place, trying to process what I had just experienced.

The beginning and the end? Power…evil…that snake. The snake saved me.

I dared wish to return to the world I once was in. The shattering masterpiece of crafted artistry, woven in secrets and tested uncertainty. I held my breath at that moment, waiting like a ticking time bomb as the world around me shifted once more.

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