CHAPTER 36:
The sun climbed high, but it did not feel warm. It cast long, harsh light over the valley, laying bare the full cost of what we had won. Bodies littered the grass—theirs and ours. Broken weapons, shattered shields, and torn banners lay scattered like fallen leaves. The air still smelled of iron, smoke, and the sharp, burnt residue of dark magic, thick and heavy enough to taste. There was no cheering. No celebration. Only the quiet, heavy rhythm of movement—people walking slowly through the wreckage, calling names, kneeling beside the fallen, lifting the wounded, working in silence as if shouting might wake the horror we had barely survived.
I stood near the center of the field, my knees weak, my hands still stained with blood that would not wash clean. Cole stood beside me, h
