Replaced by His First Love
I grabbed the edge of the lead-lined mesh on my left arm and tore it free.
The silver-mercury fabric shredded with a violent, high-frequency screech. My arm was revealed—a jagged, pulsing monument of solid, burnished gold. The Moonstone veins ignited, weeping a liquid radiance that turned the mud beneath my feet into steam.
The Gilded Toll hit me like a kinetic strike.
A memory of Leo’s fifth birthday—the cake, the smell of the vanilla—vanished, replaced by a cold, white static.
I didn't care.
I lunged forward, not at the Phantom, but between her and my son. I slammed my golden hand onto the ground, the resonance wave rippling through the permafrost.
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