The air tasted metallic, like blood and burnt wires. One moment, Sebastian was crouched in the shadows of a crumbling overpass, rallying Black Sorrow’s scattered forces. Next, the world fractured.
Flash.
Jakarta’s skyline erupted in a kaleidoscope of timelines—hundreds of futures colliding in his mind. Skyscrapers buckled, their glass façades shattering into shimmering dust. The Ciliwung River, once a lifeline, oozed black sludge, its banks littered with bloated corpses. Above, the sun hung like a smothered ember behind a permanent shroud of smoke. Sebastian gagged, the stench of rot and chemical fires clawing at his throat.
Flash.