Chapter 62 - The Path Forged

Darius sat before Ignatus's broad wooden desk, the chair's worn leather creaking under him, the dim glow of enchanted lanterns casting flickering shadows across the office's stone walls. The air was heavy with the scent of aged parchment, sweet incense, and a faint, sharp metallic tang that pricked at his senses, unplaceable yet persistent. Shelves loomed, stuffed with leather-bound tomes, their spines cracked with age, and dusty scrolls that seemed to whisper secrets. Glowing trinkets—a crystal orb pulsing with soft green light, a rune-etched amulet humming faintly—lined the shelves, their subtle energy amplifying the room's weighty atmosphere. Ignatus leaned back in his high-backed chair, his gray robes shimmering with runic threads, his sharp eyes locked on Darius, warm but piercing, like a storm held in check. The silence between them thrummed, charged with the gravity of Darius's decision to accept Ignatus's mentorship, the words still lingering from moments ago.