The light swallowed everything.For a second, there was no forest, no air, no pain—only silver. Then the sound came, a rushing wind that roared like a thousand voices crying out at once. Heat pressed against my skin, a living thing trying to crawl inside me. I reached for the stranger, but my fingers met nothing but light.When I opened my eyes again, the world had gone silent.Smoke drifted where the blast had been, curling through the trees in lazy spirals. My body ached, every muscle trembling as if the power had burned straight through bone. I lay on my back staring at the canopy, shards of moonlight blinking between the branches. For a moment, I couldn’t tell if I was alive.Then I heard him breathing.The stranger was kneeling beside me, head bowed, the silver tattoos along his jaw glowing faintly. His cloak had burned away at the edges, revealing a shirt dark with soot. He looked untouched by panic, his expression still and unreadable.“You stayed,” I whispered, my voice cracke
Last Updated : 2025-10-21 Read more