The heavy silk of my wedding gown felt less like a garment of celebration and more like a beautifully woven shroud.

I stood in the opulent antechamber of the Sun Court, staring into the gilded mirror. The reflection staring back at me was pale, composed, and utterly devoid of the radiant, shimmering aura that defined the High Fae. I was Aria Solis, the sole heiress to the Sunflare Mines, and a Null. Magicless. Broken. A stain on my family’s ancient, powerful bloodline.

For twenty-two years, I had endured the whispered insults and the thinly veiled pity of the High Fae nobility. I had learned to armor myself in silence, to keep my spine straight and my expression stoic while they mocked my inability to so much as summon a spark. But today was supposed to be different. Today, I was marrying Lord Darius Vane.

Darius had promised to protect me. He had sworn that my lack of magic did not matter to him, that our union would shield my ailing father’s estate from the greedy clutches of the High Council.

"Ten minutes until the procession, Lady Aria," a handmaiden murmured, her eyes respectfully averted—though whether out of deference to my rank or disgust at my Null status, I could never be sure.

"Thank you," I said, my voice steady. "Leave me. I need a moment of air."

As the handmaiden bowed and retreated, the oppressive heat of the perfumed antechamber closed in on me. The scent of roasted meats, enchanted wines, and a thousand blooming illusions from the ballroom made my head spin. I needed quiet. I needed the grounding reality of the earth before I bound myself to the arrogant, powerful Lord of the Vane Court.

Lifting the voluminous skirts of my gown, I slipped out through the side doors and into the royal conservatory.

The conservatory was a masterpiece of Fae magic, a sprawling glass dome filled with luminescent vines, weeping willow branches that dripped with starlight, and beds of crystal roses that chimed softly in the artificial breeze. I couldn't command the flora as the other Fae did, but I had always been intensely observant. I knew the quietest corners, the hidden alcoves where the shadows pooled thickest.

I navigated the winding, moss-covered pathways, seeking the sanctuary of the weeping star-willows at the far end. But as I rounded a thicket of glowing azure ferns, a sound stopped me dead in my tracks.

A soft, breathy laugh.

It was a familiar laugh. Vain, melodic, and sharp as a glass dagger.

*Seraphina.*

I froze, my heartbeat instantly drumming against my ribs. What was my magically gifted cousin doing in the royal conservatory moments before my Bonding Ceremony? Seraphina Solis was supposed to be in the grand hall, flaunting her considerable powers and trying to catch the eye of a wealthy suitor.

"You are terrible," Seraphina’s voice drifted through the thick foliage, followed by the unmistakable sound of lips meeting.

"And yet, you are exactly where you want to be," a deep, smooth male voice replied.

The breath hitched in my throat. The ground seemed to tilt beneath my satin-slippered feet. I knew that voice. I had spent the last year listening to it whisper sweet, rehearsed promises into my ear.

*Darius.*

Moving with the silent precision I had honed from years of trying to remain invisible, I stepped behind a massive trellis of crystal-thorn vines. Through the gaps in the leaves, the scene materialized with agonizing clarity.

Darius Vane, my fiancé, stood with his back pressed against a marble pillar. His ceremonial jacket—tailored in the deep emerald and gold of his house—was unbuttoned at the collar. And pressed flush against him, her hands tangled in his dark hair, was Seraphina.

My cousin’s face was flushed, her eyes bright with triumph as she pulled back from a deep, bruising kiss.

"Careful, my Lord," Seraphina purred, tracing the line of his jaw with a perfectly manicured, glowing fingertip. "Your little Null bride will be walking down the aisle to you in less than ten minutes. It wouldn't do for her to smell my perfume on your collar."

Darius chuckled, a dark, arrogant sound that sent a shiver of pure ice down my spine. "Let her smell it. What is she going to do, Seraphina? Cry? Aria has the emotional range of a stone. And even if she did throw a tantrum, she has no power to stop what is happening today."

I pressed my hand against my mouth, biting down on the inside of my cheek until I tasted the metallic tang of blood. My stoic facade, the armor I wore every single day, cracked down the middle.

"I still despise it," Seraphina pouted, crossing her arms beneath her chest. "Watching her stand up there, wearing the Solis ancestral crown. Taking the title of High Lady. It is a mockery of our heritage. I am the one with the magic. I am the one who inherited our grandfather’s powers. I should be standing at that altar with you."

Darius reached out, catching her waist and pulling her firmly against his chest. "And you will be, my love. In due time."

"Due time is taking too long," she complained, though she leaned into his touch. "She doesn't deserve you, Darius. She doesn't deserve the Sunflare Mines. She’s a defect."

"She is a necessary stepping stone," Darius corrected, his tone turning cold and calculating. It was a tone he had never used with me. "You know the laws of the High Council as well as I do, Sera. The Sunflare Mines are bound to the direct bloodline. Only Aria can legally transfer the deed of ownership to my house. If I marry you right now, I get nothing but a beautiful, powerful wife."

"Is that not enough?" she teased, her vanity shining through.

"Not for a seat on the High Council," Darius said, his ambition laid bare. "The older Lords look down on me. They think my territory is weak. But once I absorb the magic-producing crystals of the Sunflare Mines into my domain, my wealth and power will rival the King's. I need Aria to willingly sign that deed and bond with me before the court."

"And what happens after she signs it?" Seraphina asked, her voice dropping to an eager, cruel whisper. "What happens to the pathetic little Null once you have her mines?"

Darius smirked, a terrible, greedy expression twisting his handsome features. "Once the mines are fully integrated into my territory, her usefulness ends. The transfer takes a few months to become permanent under High Fae law. After that, well... Nulls are notoriously fragile creatures. A sudden illness, a tragic accident on the estate... who would question it?"

My vision blurred, the luminescent glow of the conservatory spinning wildly. He was planning to kill me. He wasn't just marrying me for the mines; he and my cousin had orchestrated my eventual murder.

"And my uncle?" Seraphina asked, not sounding remotely concerned about her own flesh and blood.

"Your uncle is already half in the grave," Darius dismissed with a wave of his hand. "The poison you've been slipping into his tea is doing its job perfectly. By the time Aria is out of the picture, the old man will be dead, and I will formally take you as my true mate and High Lady. We will rule the Sunflare estate together."

Poison.

The word struck me like a physical blow. My father’s mysterious wasting sickness—the illness that no Fae healer could cure, the sickness that had forced me to seek Darius’s protection in the first place—was Seraphina’s doing. My own cousin was murdering my father from the inside out to steal our inheritance.

Rage, hot and blinding, surged through my veins. It was a primal, desperate fury, entirely at odds with the quiet, resilient girl I had forced myself to be. I wanted to scream. I wanted to tear the crystal-thorn vines from the trellis and drag them across their beautiful, deceitful faces.

"You are brilliant," Seraphina breathed, kissing him again. "But what if she refuses to sign the final deed today? What if her father told her to wait?"

"She won't refuse," Darius said confidently. "I have already arranged the necessary leverage. I know exactly which strings to pull to make our little stoic puppet dance. Now, straighten my collar. I have a wedding to attend."

I had heard enough. I needed to get out of here. I needed to find my father, get him out of the estate, and cancel the Bonding Ceremony. The mines, the wealth, the status—none of it mattered if we were dead.

I took a slow, agonizingly careful step backward, my eyes fixed on the couple. I kept my breathing shallow, my movements precise. I just needed to reach the conservatory doors.

But I had forgotten the length of my wedding gown.

As I shifted my weight, the heavy satin skirt caught on a low-hanging branch of a crystal rosebush. I tried to gently tug it free, but the movement dislodged a massive, fragile crystal blossom that had fallen onto the mossy path.

My heel came down squarely on the glass flower.

*CRACK.*

The sound echoed through the silent conservatory like a gunshot.

Darius and Seraphina sprang apart instantly.

"Who is there?" Darius barked, his voice laced with sudden, lethal command. Magic—sharp and crackling like ozone—filled the air, suffocating in its intensity.

I froze, my breath trapped in my lungs. I didn't dare move, didn't dare breathe, but the damage was done. The shimmering illusions of the vines offered no real cover against a High Fae’s predatory senses.

"Come out," Darius commanded, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the shadows. He stepped away from the pillar, his posture shifting from relaxed lover to a coiled viper ready to strike.

He moved methodically down the pathway, his heavy boots crunching against the gravel. With every step, the air grew heavier, his magic pressing down on my magicless form, a physical weight designed to force weaker beings into submission.

"I won't ask again," Darius sneered, stopping just inches from the trellis that concealed me.

He reached out, his hand wrapped in a faint, deadly glow of High Fae magic, and violently ripped the crystal-thorn vines aside.

The glowing leaves scattered, raining down around me like broken glass.

Darius stared at me, his lethal glare locking onto my wide, stoic eyes.

For a long, suffocating moment, the three of us stood frozen in the shattered wreckage of the vines.

Darius’s hand remained suspended in the air, the lethal glow of his magic flickering as he processed the sight of me in my wedding gown. Behind him, Seraphina’s eyes widened in momentary panic, but as she took in my rigid posture and the lack of any magical defense, her fear quickly melted into a cruel, mocking sneer.

"Well, well," Seraphina drawled, stepping out from behind Darius and adjusting the bodice of her dress. "It seems the little mouse learned how to sneak out of her cage."

I ignored her. My gaze remained locked on Darius. The man I had trusted. The man who had sat by my father’s sickbed and held my hand, promising that our family’s legacy would be safe with him. Every warm smile, every gentle touch had been a calculated lie.

"How long?" I asked, my voice terrifyingly calm. I refused to let my voice shake. I refused to give them the satisfaction of my tears.

Darius let his hand drop, the magic extinguishing. His initial shock vanished, replaced by a chilling, arrogant composure. He casually adjusted his cuffs, his face an impenetrable mask of superiority.

"Does it matter, Aria?" Darius asked, his tone devoid of a single ounce of remorse. "You always were too observant for your own good. I suppose it was only a matter of time before you stumbled across something you shouldn't have."

"You are poisoning my father," I stated, the words tasting like ash on my tongue. "You are murdering the Lord of the Sunflare Court."

"Correction," Seraphina chirped, stepping closer to loop her arm through Darius’s. "I am poisoning your father. Darius is merely providing the alibi. And honestly, Aria, you should be thanking me. The old man is in constant pain. I’m doing him a favor."

A violent tremor wracked my body, but I forced my fists to unclench. "The Bonding Ceremony is off," I said coldly, taking a step backward. "There will be no wedding. And you will never touch the deed to the Sunflare Mines."

I turned to leave, my mind racing with plans. I needed to get to the grand hall. I would declare their treason in front of the High Council. The King himself was in attendance. Even a Null’s word would spark an investigation if I demanded a truth-seeker be brought to my father’s chambers.

Before I could take a second step, a wall of invisible, concussive force slammed into my chest.

I gasped as the magic threw me backward. I hit the marble pillar hard, the breath knocked from my lungs. I slid to the ground, my heavy gown tangling around my legs.

Darius stalked toward me, his eyes dark with greed and absolute control.

"You aren't going anywhere, Aria," he said, his voice dropping to a dangerous, silken whisper. "And you most certainly are not canceling this ceremony."

I glared up at him, fighting to pull oxygen back into my chest. "You cannot force me to bond with you. The altar requires a willing vow. If I stand before the High Fae and speak of your betrayal, you will be ruined."

Darius laughed. It was a cold, hollow sound that echoed off the glass dome. "Speak of my betrayal? To whom? The Council? Do you honestly think a single Lord sitting in that hall will take the word of a magicless Null over a High Fae Lord?"

"Treason is treason," I spat, pushing myself up to my knees. "When they find the poison in his blood—"

"They won't find poison," Darius interrupted smoothly. He reached into the inner pocket of his ceremonial jacket and withdrew a folded piece of heavy parchment, stamped with the red wax seal of the High Council.

He flicked his wrist, and the parchment floated down, landing squarely in my lap.

"Open it," he commanded.

My hands trembled slightly as I broke the seal and unfolded the thick paper. My eyes scanned the elegant, looping script of the Fae courts.

It was a warrant for execution.

*Lord Elian Solis, by decree of the High Council, is hereby found guilty of sedition and conspiring to traffic forbidden dark magic to the exiled Shadow factions. Penalty: Immediate execution and the seizure of all assets.*

I stared at the paper, my mind going blank. "This... this is a forgery. My father would never traffic dark magic. He despises the shadow factions."

"Of course he wouldn't," Darius agreed, crouching down so he was eye-level with me. The scent of Seraphina’s cloying jasmine perfume radiated off his clothes, making me nauseous. "But I spent a great deal of gold planting the evidence in his private study this morning. Ledgers, correspondence, forbidden shadow-glass. It’s all there, waiting to be found."

Seraphina stepped up behind him, a vicious smile playing on her lips. "The High Council is already looking for an excuse to seize the mines, Aria. They will jump at the chance to execute your father and take the estate for the crown."

Darius reached out, his fingers roughly gripping my chin, forcing my gaze up to meet his. "I am the only thing standing between your father and the executioner’s block. I intercepted this warrant. I have the power to make the evidence disappear."

"You monster," I whispered, the stoic armor I had worn my entire life beginning to fracture under the weight of his utter depravity.

"I am a survivor, Aria," Darius corrected coldly. "And I am ambitious. You were born broken. You have no magic, no power, and no right to hold the wealth of the Sunflare Mines. It is a waste of resources."

He released my chin and stood, towering over me like a dark god of judgment. He pulled a second piece of parchment from his coat—the official deed of transfer for the Sunflare Mines—along with a blood-quill.

"Here is what is going to happen," Darius dictated, his voice echoing with the unnatural resonance of a magical command. "You are going to sign this deed right now, transferring full ownership of the Sunflare estate to my house. Then, you are going to stand up, fix your dress, and walk out those doors to the grand altar."

"And if I refuse?" I challenged, my voice raw.

Darius’s eyes darkened, all traces of humanity vanishing. "If you refuse, I will hand this warrant to the King’s guards. They will drag your father from his sickbed, throw him in the dungeons, and execute him before the sun sets. And then, I will let Seraphina have you."

I looked at my cousin. She was practically vibrating with cruel anticipation, a sphere of crackling blue fire dancing in the palm of her hand.

I looked back down at the deed in my lap. My family’s legacy. Centuries of Solis history, of hard work, of pride. To sign it away to this arrogant, deceitful monster felt like tearing out my own heart. But my father... my father who had loved me fiercely, who had never once looked at me with disappointment despite my lack of magic. I couldn't let him die in a dark, damp cell, branded a traitor.

"You will give him the antidote," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "If I do this, you stop poisoning him."

"You have my word," Darius lied effortlessly.

I knew he was lying. I knew the moment he had what he wanted, we were both dead. But I needed time. If I signed the paper and went through with the ceremony, my father lived another day. It gave me time to find a way to save him.

With a shaking hand, I took the blood-quill. The enchanted needle at the tip pierced my index finger. I hissed in pain as my own blood flowed down the glass barrel, forming the ink.

I signed my name at the bottom of the deed. *Aria Solis.*

The moment the final letter was drawn, the parchment glowed with a sickly green light, sealing the magical contract. The deed was done. The Sunflare Mines belonged to Darius Vane.

Seraphina snatched the paper from my lap, a triumphant cackle escaping her lips. "Finally. The Solis legacy is exactly where it belongs. With the powerful."

"Excellent," Darius said, smoothing his jacket. "Now, get up. The procession music is about to begin."

I didn't move fast enough for his liking.

Darius grabbed my arm, his grip bruising and vicious. He yanked me to my feet with such force that I stumbled into the shattered remains of the crystal trellis. The razor-sharp thorns of the vines tore through the delicate silk of my sleeve, slicing deep into my forearm.

I cried out, clutching my arm as bright red blood began to well up from the cuts, dripping down my pale skin and staining the pristine white fabric of my dress.

"Pathetic," Seraphina muttered, looking at my bleeding arm with disgust. "Try not to bleed on the aisle runner. It’s imported silk."

Darius didn't let go of my arm. His fingers dug directly into the fresh wounds, ensuring maximum pain as he dragged me forward. "Wipe your face, Aria. If you look anything less than overjoyed when those doors open, I will send the guards to your father's room immediately. Do you understand me?"

I nodded once, my jaw clenched so tight my teeth ached.

Stripped of my dignity, my inheritance stolen, and my blood dripping steadily onto the marble floor, I was forced out of the conservatory and toward the towering golden doors of the grand hall.

The heavy, rhythmic beating of the ceremonial drums began to echo through the corridors, signaling the start of the Bonding Ceremony. The sound felt like a death march.

But as Darius dragged me closer to the altar doors, a strange sensation washed over me. It started at the site of the lacerations on my arm, where my blood freely flowed. It wasn't the cold, numbing pain of the crystal thorns.

It was heat.

A deep, unnatural, burning heat.

It pulsed beneath my skin, sinking into my veins and racing toward my heart. For my entire life, my blood had been quiet, empty, utterly devoid of the magical hum that defined my race. But right now, with absolute humiliation and furious desperation tearing my soul apart, the emptiness inside me cracked.

Something ancient, dark, and terrifyingly hot stirred in the deepest, forgotten corners of my being.

Darius pushed me forward as the massive golden doors began to slowly swing open, revealing the blinding light of the grand hall and the sea of expectant High Fae faces.

*Walk,* Darius’s magical command echoed in my mind.

I stepped forward, the burning shadow beneath my skin pulsing in time with the ceremonial drums, waiting to be unleashed.

The heavy, gilded doors of the Cathedral of the Fates swung open, unleashing a blinding wave of crystalline light and the deafening roar of ceremonial trumpets. The grand hall was a masterpiece of High Fae architecture, boasting towering columns of spun glass and banners of white and gold silk that cascaded from the vaulted ceilings. The air was thick with the scent of crushed lilies and the sharp, ozone tang of raw magic.

"Keep your arm tucked against your side," Darius hissed, his fingers biting viciously into my bruised bicep. "You are bleeding on the ceremonial silk, and I will not have you ruining this spectacle with your clumsiness."

"If I am bleeding, it is because you drove me into a patch of crystal thorns," I replied, my voice a quiet, stoic monotone that betrayed none of the fury roaring inside my chest.

"I drove you to nothing," he muttered under his breath, pasting a dazzling, arrogant smile on his face as the crowds came into view. "I merely demanded what is mine. Now, smile, Aria. The entire High Court is watching. If you falter, if you dare to look anything less than overjoyed, I will send word to my men to drag your father from his sickbed and throw him into the dungeons for treason before the sun sets."

I turned my head slightly, locking my eyes on his perfectly sculpted profile. "You are a monster, Darius. Extorting a magicless woman and a dying man. How remarkably noble."

He chuckled, a dry, dismissive sound. "Nobility is written by the powerful, my sweet Null. Look around you. They love me. They tolerate you solely because of the Sunflare Mines. Do not forget your place."

*Walk,* his magical command echoed in my mind again, a heavy, oppressive weight pressing against my temples.

I stepped forward, the burning shadow beneath my skin pulsing in time with the ceremonial drums. Every step down the long, mirrored aisle was an exercise in pure resilience. The High Fae nobility watched us with glittering, judgmental eyes. I could hear their whispers, sharp and cruel, slicing through the music.

*“The Null bride.”*

*“A tragedy that the Solis line ends in a void.”*

*“Lord Darius is too generous to take on such a burden.”*

I kept my chin high, my face an unreadable mask. Let them whisper. Let them stare. I was doing this to save my father, to protect the last shred of my family’s legacy. I would endure this farce of a bonding, and then I would find a way to break Darius Vane.

We reached the end of the aisle, stepping up to the raised dais where the blinding white marble of the Bonding Altar awaited. The High Priest of the Fates stood behind it, his robes shimmering with woven starlight, holding a glowing staff of ancient oak.

"We gather under the eternal light of the High Fae," the High Priest began, his voice magically amplified to reach the farthest corners of the cathedral. "To witness the merging of two ancient houses. To bind their magic, their blood, and their souls as one."

Darius dropped my hand as if my skin had suddenly caught fire. He took a deliberate step away from me.

The High Priest frowned but continued the sacred rite. "Do you, Lord Darius Vane, pledge your magic, your house, and your eternal soul to Aria Solis?"

Darius turned his back to the altar and faced the sea of expectant guests.

"I do not."

The resulting gasp from the thousands of assembled guests sucked the air out of the grand hall. The silence that followed was absolute, heavy, and suffocating.

"My Lord?" the High Priest stammered, lowering his glowing staff in shock. "The ceremony is underway. To break the rite now is an insult to the Fates—"

"To continue this rite is an insult to my bloodline!" Darius’s voice boomed, bouncing off the towering glass pillars. "I, Lord Darius Vane, cannot in good conscience tether my soul to a void."

My heart slammed against my ribs, but my exterior remained like stone. "Darius, what are you doing?" I demanded, keeping my voice perfectly level despite the humiliation burning my cheeks. "You have the deed. You have what you wanted. Do not do this."

"Silence, Null," Darius sneered, glancing at me over his shoulder with sheer disgust. "I have tolerated your presence out of pity for your ailing father, but I will not bind myself to a creature devoid of the sacred spark. You bring no magic, no strength, and no future to my court."

"You blackmailed me to get me to this altar!" I shouted, allowing the sharp edge of my anger to bleed into my words. "You threatened my father's life just minutes ago!"

"Lies!" Darius declared, gesturing expansively to the gasping crowd. "Listen to the desperate falsehoods of a magicless leech! She has hidden behind the Solis name for too long, reaping the benefits of a society she cannot contribute to."

"He speaks the truth, Aria," a melodious, sickeningly sweet voice rang out from the front row.

The crowd parted as Seraphina stepped into the aisle. She was wearing a gown of woven sunlight and gold thread, a dress that rivaled any wedding gown. She looked radiant, powerful, and utterly triumphant.

"Seraphina," I whispered, my analytical mind snapping the pieces of the puzzle together. The stolen glances. The missing estate funds. The way she had always lingered around Darius at the solstice galas.

"You always were so terribly dramatic, cousin," Seraphina purred, ascending the marble steps of the dais to stand at Darius’s side.

"You orchestrated this," I said, my voice dropping to a deadly calm. "The two of you. You planned to humiliate me here, in front of the entire Council."

"We merely planned to correct a historical error," Darius said smoothly. He reached out, taking Seraphina’s hand and kissing her knuckles. "The Sunflare Mines belong to the magically gifted of House Solis. And the true heir to that magic stands before us."

"I am the legitimate heir by blood," I snapped, refusing to back down. "You cannot just rewrite the laws of succession because you covet my inheritance."

"Oh, Aria," Seraphina sighed, feigning a sympathetic pout. "Did you really think a High Lord would tether himself to a broken thing? You are a genetic mistake. A void. I have the magic. I am the true High Fae. Darius needs a High Lady who can stand beside him in power, not a charity case."

"How long?" I asked, staring at the cousin I had grown up with, the girl I had shared secrets with.

"Since the winter solstice," Seraphina smirked, dropping the sweet facade. Her eyes flashed with raw cruelty. "He realized then that a true Lord needs a true Lady. Not a defective placeholder. You are nothing, Aria. You have always been nothing."

"I will not shed a tear for a traitor and a whore," I stated coldly, holding her gaze.

Seraphina’s face twisted in rage. She raised her hand, her palm glowing with scorching light magic, and slapped me hard across the face. The force of it snapped my head to the side, leaving a blistering, burning welt on my cheek.

The crowd erupted into murmurs of approval and mocking laughter.

"Guards," Darius commanded, his voice dripping with authority. "Force her to kneel. A Null should know her place before her betters."

Two heavily armored guards marched onto the dais, their hands glowing with binding runes.

"Take your hands off me!" I warned, standing my ground. "I am the Heiress of House Solis!"

"Not anymore," Darius laughed.

The guards grabbed my shoulders, their magically enhanced strength overwhelming my mortal frame. They kicked the backs of my knees. I crashed onto the unforgiving white marble of the altar. The impact sent a shockwave of agony up my legs, and the crystal thorn lacerations on my arm ripped entirely open.

"Null!" someone shouted from the crowd.

"Leech!"

"Beg for forgiveness, void!"

The heat inside my veins, the strange, burning shadow that had awakened in the conservatory, spiked to an unbearable temperature. It felt like liquid fire coursing through my system, demanding release.

"You will pay for this, Darius," I whispered, staring at the pristine white stone beneath me, refusing to let them see me cry.

"I highly doubt that," Darius replied, looking down his nose at me. "Now, bleed your apologies onto the stone, and perhaps I will let your father live out his final days in the servant's quarters."

A heavy drop of my blood fell from my lacerated forearm.

It hit the white marble altar with a soft *plink*.

It did not smear. It did not absorb into the stone.

The instant my blood touched the altar, the marble turned pitch black. The darkness spread outward like venom, consuming the blinding white stone in a single heartbeat. The magical hum of the cathedral abruptly died, replaced by a low, terrifying vibration that rattled the teeth in my skull.

*CRACK.*

The massive marble altar split cleanly down the middle with a deafening boom.

Before anyone could scream, the glass dome high above us shattered outward. It did not rain down upon us; instead, the shards of glass hung suspended in mid-air as the sky itself split wide open, tearing a ragged, bleeding rift of pure darkness into the fabric of reality.