Jude could feel the weight of the air around him shift as the world bent under the pressure of the Architects' arrival. The woman pulled him through the unstable streets, her grip firm, unwavering, like she had done this before. He struggled to keep up, his mind racing with questions, but there was no time for answers. The city was coming apart, the very reality he had barely begun to shape now threatened with erasure.
They turned a sharp corner, and suddenly the ground beneath them shifted, tilting at an impossible angle. Jude nearly lost his footing, but the woman yanked him forward, unbothered by the sudden warping of space. His surroundings twisted as if the city itself was rejecting them, buildings stretching like melting wax, streets unraveling into fragmented pathways that led nowhere. He stole a glance behind them and felt his stomach drop.
