Elira woke to silence.
Not the absence of sound, but the kind that follows just after something ends, or just before something begins.
She sat up slowly. Kael was asleep again, his breathing even but shallow. The twins were curled together, as if warmed by more than just cloth.
The mist was still.
Too still.
Elira rose. Her muscles ached, but she felt stronger than yesterday. Her magic had stabilized. Not fully replenished, but calmer.
She crossed the ruin's edge, just beyond the archway, scanning the perimeter. No movement.
But something buzzed in her mind. A pressure. Not invasive like the Watchers. Not searching. Just... waiting.
She moved toward the place she'd marked, the symbol carved in stone. It had not faded. If anything, it glowed faintly now. Responding.
She didn't dare touch it.
Instead, she sat.
And waited.
Time passed. The air didn't shift. The mist didn't stir.
But then, something blinked.
Not eyes.
A rift.
A seam in the mist, like someone had sliced through reality itself for a single breath.
And through it,
A figure.
Tall. Not Watcher. Not shadow.
Wrapped in fabric that didn't move with wind. Face obscured by a veil of dark glass.
Elira didn't rise.
She only whispered, "I see you."
The figure inclined its head.
Then vanished.
The rift sealed.
Elira remained still.
But her pulse told her everything had just changed.