The first light of dawn broke over the ravaged forest, pale and uncertain, like a hand that didn’t dare touch what remained of the night. Smoke hung low between the trees. The air was damp with ash and dew — the scent of endings, and beginnings too fragile to name.Kaelen knelt beside Serenya where she rested against the roots of a fallen oak. Her hair, still threaded with faint streaks of silver light, clung to her skin. She looked too still, too fragile, her breath shallow as mist.He brushed a thumb over her cheek, feeling warmth there — faint, but alive. “You’ve got to stop scaring me like this,” he murmured, voice hoarse.Her lips curved faintly. “You make it too easy.”Kaelen almost laughed, but it came out as a choked breath. “You just closed a rift that nearly tore the world in half. Forgive me for being a little on edge.”She stirred, wincing as she tried to sit up. “Did it stay closed?”He hesitated, glancing toward the glade. The air there still shimmered faintly, like wate
Last Updated : 2025-10-23 Read more