The night felt eerily calm after the battle. The moon, once full and overwhelming, now hung low in the sky, casting only a pale, distant light over the clearing. The silence that followed the chaos was almost deafening, and yet, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the calm was only temporary.
Adrian stood beside me, his breathing still heavy, his chest rising and falling with each inhale. His clothes were torn and bloodied from the fight, but there was something about the way he held himself, a warrior’s grace even in the aftermath, that commanded my attention.
“You’re stronger than I thought,” he said, his voice soft but filled with awe. He turned to look at me, his gaze filled with something I couldn’t quite place. “Much stronger.”
I didn’t know how to respond. The power inside me still
