The training grounds had settled back into deceptive stillness, but the air still carried the faint ozone bite of fractured reality and the metallic tang of exertion.
Eon sat on the edge of a low platform, legs dangling as Aurora's gentle healing light washed over the group. The others were scattered around him—Kairn wincing as Lena carefully sealed a gash on his forearm, Mira sprawled on her back staring at the sky, Leo quietly analyzing the lingering distortions in the marble with a focused frown.
Kairn broke the silence with a pained laugh. "Alright, I take back every complaint. That wasn't training. Those shadow things wanted to devour us. Like, actually erase us from existence."
Mira propped herself up on her elbows. "We held, though. That barrier… it wasn't just Eon carrying everything. It felt like us. All of us."
