The last echoes of chanting collapsed into silence, smothered beneath smoke, frost, and earth. Flames crackled through the ruins, eating at broken walls and collapsed towers, while sheets of ice slowly crept across the sand where Aesa's power had passed.
The air still vibrated with residual curse energy. It was like a sickness that refused to die cleanly.
Erend lowered his arms first. Lightning faded from his body, leaving faint afterimages crawling along his scales before they dimmed.
He sighed, steadying himself, and scanned the ruins for movement but none came. No chanting or shifting sand. Just destruction and stillness.
Aesa stood rigid a few steps away. Frost still clung to her fingers, refusing to melt. Her breathing stayed controlled but her jaw tightened as waves of lingering essence tried to sink into her again.
