Weeks passed like storm winds, fast, loud, and full of change. The once-untouched fields surrounding Ashar’s rebuilt sanctuary now bore the marks of battles fought in preparation. Craters scorched the earth. Ancient stone monoliths Mae had conjured from fractured memory stood like training dummies, each of them broken, shattered, or melted down from her refining strength. Mae stood in the center of the stone circle now, chest rising steadily, shoulders squared. Her arms glowed faintly, not with heat, but power. The kind that no longer frightened her. Not like before.
“She’s not just strong,” Sethis said from the outer edge, “she’s, divine.” Lucien hummed, crossing his arms. “And still not even at her full potential.” The sphere hovered silently nearby, its shifting light steady for the fi
