The next few days felt different.
The sky wouldn’t stay one color anymore. Sometimes it glowed pale gold, and sometimes it turned a deep red that made the trees look like they were bleeding light. The air hummed with energy, thick and restless, like the world itself was waiting for something.
Training didn’t stop.
If anything, it became harder.
Eryx drove us all, me, Asher, Gage, Arlo, Kaelen, and Kaelric past exhaustion. He said the closer the Eclipse came, the stronger we had to be. The mark on my chest burned more every night, pulsing like a heartbeat that wasn’t mine.
We fought through drills until sweat dripped into our eyes, our lungs burning. The air would crackle with energy whenever all six of us pushed too far, our powers pulling at one another like magnets. The others could
