I shifted on the floor, every muscle screaming with exhaustion, my eyelids heavy as stone. My body ached from running, fighting, and narrowly escaping death more times than I could count. Yet beneath it all, a faint pulse thrummed through me—subtle at first, almost like a whisper beneath a roaring wind.
Elias was already awake, sitting back on the chair next to the window. His eyes followed me as I flexed my fingers, a faint tremor running along my arms. “You’re shaking.” He said quietly, his tone calm but wary. “And it’s not just because you’re tired. Something’s… happening.”
“I… I don’t know.” I admitted. “It’s like… something inside me is waking up.”
Before I could speak, the door creaked open. A swirl of gray ash drifted in, curling around the doorway before fading into the hut.
El
