Ethan twisted his body immediately, trying to find an angle—any angle—where the giant dragon might be vulnerable enough to launch an attack.
But the space outside the cage was still rotating.
The dragon's body still had no end.
And the Stellar Core had already cleared the bars, closing in. It hadn't even reached them yet, and the pressure leaking out of it had already spread across the entire cage.
Seraphina's wings sank under the weight.
Everyone's breathing got pinned to their chests.
The stench of death smothered them whole.
Seraphina beat her wings hard. Her massive dragon body whipped around inside the prison, carrying everyone on her back as she tried to dodge the Stellar Core's original trajectory.
Each wingbeat churned the stagnant air into violent turbulence. But no matter which direction she fled, the distant space shifted with her—as if the cage itself were sliding. The hyper-compressed Stellar Core stayed locked onto them, steadily tracking from behind.
