The pulse traveled through the floor the moment the referee's hand dropped—Vaughn having pressed his foot in the instant before the signal, the kinetic shockwave moving through the stone in all directions from the contact point.
Ken's shadow felt it—not felt, responded, the shadow's sensitivity to the surface it occupied registering the vibration moving through the floor beneath it.
Ken stepped sideways.
The pulse arrived at the position he had just vacated—the floor vibrating beneath the empty space, the shockwave completing its travel and finding nothing to arrive at.
The shadow moved with him—not dragged, carried, the dark mass repositioning as Ken's position repositioned.
Vaughn read the sidestep.
He pressed his left hand to the floor—kneeling briefly, the palm flat against the stone, the pulse firing from the hand contact in all directions, a different origin point from the foot, a different angle of approach through the stone.
