A Wailing Mother (2)

But the woman in front of her was no longer Sharon. Whatever remained of her consciousness had been swallowed whole by the transformation.

Even so, Medeia refused to see her as just another monster.

Sharon was a mother—a mother who had drowned in guilt, who had suffered so deeply that her pain had reshaped her into something unrecognizable. She had become the very thing she once feared, all for the sake of protecting the child she could no longer hold.

[Host, the system advises you to shield your ears.]

A split second after the system's warning, Sharon's jaw unhinged grotesquely, stretching far beyond human limits. Then came the scream—a sound so harrowing it sent violent tremors through the canyon, the sheer force of it cracking the stone walls.

But Medeia heard nothing.

She reached up, fingertips grazing her ears, sensing the invisible barrier that had shielded her from the wailing mother's deadly cry.