The medical wing of Sky City was far, far from the outside turmoil. Inside, the silence was broken only by rhythmic humming.
These mana crystals, embedded in the mother-of-pearl walls, pulsed, filtering the air to extract every impurity. In one of the private rooms, the atmosphere was gloomy, steeped in a sharp odor where high-quality medicinal balms mixed with the lingering smell of dried blood.
Julian Frostvine lay on a bed. His torso was wrapped in tight bandages, concealing the wounds from his battle on the Tenebris continent.
Eyes fixed on the ceiling, he lost himself in his own thoughts, replaying on loop the horrors he had endured and what had happened to his friends.
At his bedside, Norah Walpurgy kept watch. Nox's little sister, but also his girlfriend. Her eyebrow and lip piercings caught the reflections of the crystals, while her irises never left Julian's face. Since his disastrous return, she had imposed herself; more than the nurse, she constantly took care of him.
