"He’s been at it for two hours," Kade murmurs, his physical voice barely a whisper.
"He’s acting as a localized mortar," I reply, projecting the thought so as not to break Asher’s concentration. "He’s feeding his own stabilizing resonance into Kieran’s frayed astral pathways. He’s trying to build a bridge for Kieran’s consciousness to walk back on."
Through the merge, I can feel what Asher is doing. It’s not magic in the traditional sense. It’s pure, empathetic endurance. Asher is taking the chaotic, static-filled void of Kieran’s damaged mind and wrapping it in his own calm, steady frequency. He is holding the space open.
Suddenly, the monitor beside the bed chimes. A single, sharp spike in the delta wave.
Asher gasps, his eyes flying open. The silver glow fades.
On the bed, Kieran’s
