Jasper felt a pain unlike any he had ever known. It wasn't a physical agony like having flesh torn away, but a slow, excruciating torture akin to being slowly sliced by a blunt blade. It was a hundred times worse than dying instantly.His mind raced through a chaotic sequence of images, like a black-and-white movie playing backward. He saw people retreating and leaving—Javier, Anne, Newton, Landon, Lauren, Jonah, Axel…He reached out desperately, trying to grasp any of them, but they were slipping away, one by one.Finally, the image settled on Alyssa's radiant face. "Lyse... Don't go..."Tears streaming down his face, he lunged forward, wrapping his arms around her. But she dissolved into golden dust, vanishing into the frigid air."No!"A beep sounded in his ear as if everything had been reset. Darkness enveloped him, and he fell unconscious.Now, there was just silence. Jameson stood motionless, staring at the fallen man. He wasn't sure if he was dead, but deep down, he was
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