The first light of Aerthalis dawned softly through the mist-laden trees, painting the village in gentle shades of gold and silver. I woke with a restless energy, my body stiff from the previous day’s adventures, my mind alive with the memory of Marcus’s presence—the way he had moved, watched, and protected me without a single word of explanation. The currents of Aerthalis thrummed faintly beneath my feet, a living pulse that seemed to respond to my growing awareness, and a subtle thrill ran through my chest at the thought of training again today.
Marcus was already waiting by the edge of the glade, his posture quiet, alert, and impossibly poised. The air around him carried the faint, inexorable hum of his presence, a mixture of vigilance and power that had become as familiar to me as the
