Kaelen woke to silence. The air was still, the oppressive weight of the entity's presence gone. He sat up, blinking, his head pounding. It was over. The entity had been severed, the connection broken.
The Vigilant was still drifting in space, but it no longer felt like the haunted, living vessel it once had been. The walls were quiet. The whispers were gone.
He looked around and saw Mira sitting beside him, her face pale, but there was a glimmer of relief in her eyes. They had done it. The battle was over.
"How long…" Mira began, her voice strained. "How long has it been?"
Kaelen shook his head, unsure. Time felt like it had lost all meaning in the wake of the entity's presence. But there was one thing he knew for certain:
They had survived. And they were free.
For now.