The doors to the Throne Room didn't just open; they shattered into a thousand black glass butterflies that dissolved before they hit the floor. The air inside didn't smell like the meadow or the frost—it smelled like nothing. A terrifying, hollow vacuum that threatened to pull the breath right out of Ryn’s lungs. At the center of the room, the Shadow Queen sat atop a throne made of tangled, pulsing violet veins. She looked like a crack in reality, her face shifting between a beautiful woman and a featureless skull. "2,486," the Queen whispered, her voice echoing inside their minds like grinding stone. "You were my masterpiece. The beast who could walk between worlds. And you brought me the Shifter... the battery I need to stay anchored to this reality." Amia didn’t growl. She didn't roar. She simply stepped forward, her tiger-eyes glowing with a red light so intense it started to smoke. "I’m not a masterpiece," Amia said, her voice dropping into a low, vibrating frequency. "I’m the mistake that’s going to end you." Before Amia could lunge, the floor beneath them turned into a liquid mirror. Images began to swirl in the glass: for Amia, the sterile lab and the cold hands of scientists; for Ryn, the burning tents of her tribe; for Ash, a sky filled with cages and clipped wings. "Stay back!" Ash yelled, her soot-colored wings flapping frantically as she tried to pull Ryn away from the visions. "It’s a trick! It’s showing us our nightmares!" Kai, the only one without a lab past, jammed his bone spear into the mirror-floor. "No!" he croaked, his amber eyes flashing. "Not... nightmare. It... fuel! She eats... the sad!" Amia realized it then. The Queen wasn't just a kidnapper; she was a parasite using their trauma to power the Spire of Crowns. Every time Ryn had a nightmare, the island grew stronger. Every time Amia felt like a monster, the Queen’s throne glowed brighter. "Ryn! Look at me!" Amia shouted, reaching through the flickering images of the lab. "Don't fight the memory! Change it!" Amia’s hand didn't just turn into a tiger paw this time—it began to glow with a blinding, pure white light that started to crack the violet shadows. She reached out and grabbed the Queen’s throne with a grip that could crush steel. "You want my energy?" Amia hissed, the white light traveling up her arms and into the Queen’s violet veins. "Take ALL OF IT." The Queen’s scream sounded like a dying star. The Spire began to tilt, and the void below started to rush upward. The "failed experiment" was finally overloading the system, and the entire reality of the island began to ripple like water. Amia turned her head, her face half-human and half-tiger. "Ash! Grab Ryn and Kai! When the glass breaks, the portal home will open for a split second. You have to jump!" "What about you?" Ash screamed over the sound of the collapsing tower. Amia looked at the Queen, who was now dissolving into smoke. "I'm the anchor. I have to hold the rip open until you're through."
