The first sign was the light.
The moon, bright and whole only moments before, flickered like a dying flame. A ripple of shadow crossed its surface, washing over the glow that usually steadied the world beneath it. I stared upward, breath caught in my throat, as the sky dimmed in a way that felt wrong on a level my bones understood before my mind did.
Then the beam appeared.
A spear of silver-black energy shot down from the moon, piercing the sky like a lightning strike frozen in place. It hit the titan square in the chest. The impact shook the entire valley. Snow rose in sheets around us. Trees bent. The air trembled under the force.
The titan arched its spine and roared. Not a sound made by lungs or throat. A quake. A vibration that passed through earth, stone, bone and blood. The bea
