Selene's POV
By the next day, the tension hadn't eased.
It wasn't sharp anymore, not something I could point at or prepare for. It had spread out, thin and constant, pressing into everything without needing to announce itself. Even breathing felt different, like my body had adjusted to something it still didn't fully understand.
Nothing felt rushed anymore. Nothing felt uncertain. The moment I stepped back into the training hall, I understood this wasn't a continuation of yesterday.
It was an escalation.
The space hadn't changed, but the way it felt had.
There were more of them this time. Not just the ones who had already seen me struggle through it, but others who had come to watch for themselves. They didn't try to hide it. They stood where they could see clearly, the
