The crowd began to disperse, slow at first, murmurs rippling through the leaves like wind shifting the canopy.
The air was still thick, charged with the weight of what they'd witnessed.
Even the birds that had perched along the high branches seemed to hold their breath. Lorienya hadn't seen such restraint from one so powerful in centuries.
Lindarion stepped aside from the clearing, his boots pressing softly into the moss. He felt the pulse of the forest, gentle, rhythmic, like a heartbeat beneath his soles.
The mana of the world tree still flowed faintly through him, harmonizing with the life around him. It was different here: calmer, purer. For a moment, he simply let himself breathe.
The commanders lingered at the edge of the ring, still whispering.
"That power… it's divine."
"Did you see how the shadows obeyed him?"
"It wasn't even a duel, it was a message."
