The Core did not resist Valentine.
It welcomed her.
Light folded inward around her body, not consuming her, but threading through her like a loom finally recognizing the right pattern. The pain came instantly, sharp and total, as if every bond ever written screamed at once.
Valentine cried out, knees buckling.
Luther felt it as if it were his own spine cracking. He lunged forward, only to be stopped by an invisible barrier that burned against his palms.
“Do not cross,” Eryx shouted from behind him. “If you interrupt the rewrite, it will tear her apart.”
Luther snarled, teeth bared, eyes blazing silver. “Then do something!”
Eryx’s voice dropped, heavy with truth. “There is nothing to do. This part belongs to her alone.”
Inside the Core, Valentine saw everything.
Not as visions this
