The sunset over Forest City had finally surrendered to the creeping obsidian of the night, leaving only a faint, bruised purple glow along the horizon where the city’s massive Energy Screen hummed with protective resonance. Beneath the arched, gothic gates of the Spirit Martial Academy, the air was cooling rapidly, carrying the crisp scent of the surrounding Skyfield Forest and the sharp, metallic tang of ozone lingering from the afternoon’s atmospheric disturbances.
Even the longest roads have a final destination, and the quiet walk that Leo Shaw and Yuna Lynch had shared through the empty academy grounds was no exception. They came to a halt near the curb, where the pool of light from a flickering high-tech streetlamp illuminated the stark contrast between their two worlds.
Waiting for
