The next night, Starlight City's skies throbbed with color. Fireworks from the Pride Festival lit up the streets, but Arielle barely noticed. Her focus was on the massive, black tether stretching over the skyline. It had grown thicker, its pulse slower but heavier, like a drumbeat shaking the air.
Selene stood beside her on the rooftop of a downtown bar, the needle gleaming faintly in their hand. Below, the crowd danced, oblivious to the silent battle overhead.
"They don't feel it," Arielle said, hugging her jacket tighter. "No one does."
Selene's eyes stayed on the tether. "They're not supposed to. If they did, panic would tear this city apart before the tether even finished its work."
Arielle glanced sideways at them. "And you're just… calm about this? Like it's routine?"
Selene's expression didn't change. "Calm isn't the same as unafraid. I've seen what happens when bonds collapse. Entire districts become husks. People forget how to love, how to trust. Connections die, and what's left of them is… hollow."
The weight in their voice silenced Arielle. She turned back to the tether, watching as a thin, silver thread from somewhere below drifted upward and fused into it, vanishing.
"Can we stop it?" she asked.
Selene finally looked at her, their dark eyes unreadable. "Maybe. But not alone. And not without you."
Chapter Five – Resonance
Arielle woke to a sound she couldn't name. A low, vibrating hum that wasn't coming from her phone, the street, or even outside her window. It was coming from her chest.
She sat up, her breath quickening. The threads in her apartment — usually faint, lazily drifting — now glowed bright, their movements synced with the rhythm in her body.
When she stood, they followed her. Not just moving, but bending toward her, like she was a magnet.
Her phone buzzed on the nightstand. A text from Selene: Meet me. Now. Don't touch the threads.
Arielle grabbed her jacket and camera, ignoring the way the strands quivered around her like a living net. Outside, the air felt heavy, charged. People passed her on the sidewalk laughing and talking, but none of them noticed the faint ripples of light in the air. Only her.
By the time she reached the alley behind the Velvet Lantern — the club Selene had named in the text — her skin tingled like static. Selene was already there, needle in hand, eyes fixed on the sky.
The black tether was closer now. And for the first time, Arielle saw something moving inside it. Something that didn't look human.
Selene turned sharply as Arielle approached. "It's feeding faster. And now… it knows you can see it."
Before Arielle could respond, every thread around them snapped taut at once, glowing blindingly bright.