Aria did not stop moving until the sounds of the clearing disappeared behind her, and when she finally slowed, it was not because she felt safe, but because the pressure inside her shifted in a way she could no longer ignore.
The forest stood quiet around her, but the silence offered no relief, and every step she took made her more aware of what was happening beneath her skin.
Without Kael near her, the balance she had been holding together was gone. The system was no longer being held back, It was advancing.
Aria pressed her hand against a tree as her breathing grew heavier, not from exhaustion, but from the force building steadily inside her, controlled and deliberate, as if it had been waiting for this moment.
So this is what you wanted, she said, her voice low but certain. The syst
