Suddenly, silence fell.
Not an ordinary silence. Not the kind you hear after a speech or an announcement. No. A denser, thicker silence. A silence that settles in the throat, that covers the eardrums, that tightens the ribs without warning.
It fell over the coliseum like a leaden blanket, smothering every scream, every movement, every half-begun breath. The stands went quiet in a single breath. Even the air seemed to choke. Even the voiceless creatures, even the lifeforms that do not breathe, those we thought indifferent to the world, stopped.
And something, deep in my bones, shivered.Not with fear.With a mute warning my body understood before I did.
The shadows reacted too. They thickened, tightened, as if they had started moving without shifting place. The sky, clear just seconds before, darkened without clouds, without rumble, without any identifiable phenomenon.
It wasn't a storm. It was a presence.
