Chapter 91 – Bloom (2): The Fractured Rewind

Celia's eyes were already open.

A deep, abyssal blue, their color bleeding into the air, an unnatural frost creeping through the very particles of existence. But it wasn't the frost that mattered.

It was what lay within her gaze.

The Door.

"I see it." Her voice carried a soft hum, almost a whisper, yet in the frozen, suspended mirrored world, it rang with an unnatural finality.

She smiled. Wide. "I see it."

She turned slightly, her gaze flickering toward Jess, who stood beside her, flames licking at her form, negating the space around her. Celia's voice was firm, calm.

"Our way out."

And in that moment,

They were gone.

Hela's breath caught.

Just a fraction of a second, the smallest, most imperceptible hitch.

But she knew.

They were no longer in her world.

Her rewind... her carefully constructed, inescapable loop space, had been abandoned.

CRACK.