(Isabella’s POV) The void’s smile didn’t feel like a victory. It felt like recognition, like something long buried finally remembering where it came from. The entire Heart trembled under that realization, not from force alone, but from meaning shifting, as if reality itself was being redefined in real time. Lyra stepped forward immediately, golden light flaring around her like a shield, but even she looked shaken now, like the ground beneath her understanding had finally cracked. “That’s not true,” Astra said sharply, but her voice lacked conviction. It came out more like a plea than a denial. The elderly woman didn’t look at her, her eyes locked on the void as if she was measuring something that had finally completed its shape. Rex stood beside me, steady as always, but I could feel the tension in him now, the way his instincts were no longer just alert but alarmed, like something inside him was trying to decide whether to fight reality itself or accept it. Lyra’s voice
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