The pain woke him.
Not the dull, familiar ache that had lived in his bones for centuries, but a sharp, screaming agony that tore through his chest and dragged him back into consciousness.
Lucien Blackthorn gasped.
Air burned his lungs. His heart slammed violently against his ribs, erratic and weak, like it was struggling to remember its purpose.
For the first time in over four hundred years, Lucien felt the terrifying truth of mortality.
He was dying.
The war horns echoed across Nightfall territory, their deep, mournful calls rolling through the mountains like thunder. The scent of smoke, blood, and fear clung to the air, thick enough to taste.
The Aegis had come.
Lucien forced himself upright, teeth clenched against the agony that flared through his spine. His limbs felt heavy, sl
