CHAPTER 46: THE PATH TO THE FIRST

The new realm’s luminous plain fades behind us, its silver grass giving way to shadowed forests where crystalline vines twist under twin suns, their silver and black light weaving a fragile balance, a living echo of the Veil’s heart, anchored by my essence to Elara’s dream of coexistence. My crescent mark flickers, a silver ember bound to eternity, its untainted light waning, the First Ones’ blade sheathed at my side—its starlight-and-obsidian edge pulsing, its runes whispering of peril. Cassia walks beside me, her crimson aura vibrant, her amber eyes fierce with the Hollow’s fire, her hand brushing mine, a spark that steadies my faltering soul. My human form trembles, wings a memory, my Convergence form sacrificed, and the Veil’s hum stutters within me, a guardian’s duty burning through my weakening essence, silver blood hidden in my clenched fist. Maddox scouts ahead, his star-flecked eyes sharp with vigilance, his hope a flame that lights our path. Sylvara’s vine-hair weaves protec