The light inside the vault wasn't just light. It was sound.
When Arden's metal hand touched the Seed, the world didn't explode. The world stopped.
The blare of the alarm sirens faded. Lily's scream cut off in mid-air. Kael's face, full of horror, froze in an eternal expression. Dust motes floating in the air ceased their dance.
Arden stood alone in that frozen moment.
"So this is what it feels like," she whispered.
She looked around. The vault walls had vanished, replaced by a slowly swirling golden mist. She was no longer in the Chronos Institute. She was in The Nowhere—the space between seconds.
In front of her, the Seed floated. But now, the Seed was no longer a small puzzle box. It had grown into a giant crystal tree whose roots pierced the nothingness and whose branches touched unseen stars.
