[SAVED AGAIN]

Eli wanted to run—needed to run—but his legs refused to obey.

He was paralyzed.

He could only watch in horror as the massive building loomed above him, seconds away from flattening him like an ant beneath a boot.

'Seriously?!' his mind shrieked in disbelief. 'I die again and this is really how I go? Not the ogres. Not the boss. A damn building?!'

He clenched his eyes shut and raised his arms over his head instinctively, as if they could somehow shield him from the tons of falling debris.

Then—

"You actually are suicidal, aren't you?!"

A voice—sharp, exasperated, and unmistakably Kairo's—cut through the chaos like a thunderclap.

Eli's eyes snapped open just as an arm yanked him sideways with jarring force.

"Ah!" he gasped, vision spinning as the world blurred around him.

Kairo had grabbed him—again.