To Become The Monster
POV Liora
The Ancient One did not sit.
She moved around us instead, slow and unhurried, her bare feet making no sound against the stone. Her presence pressed in from all sides, like the air had thickened just for her. Mae sat stiff beside me, hands knotted in her lap. Rowan stayed near the door, shoulders tight, like a man braced for a strike he couldn’t dodge.
“Tell me,” the Ancient One said calmly, “why mortals believe becoming a monster will save them.”