The Ashvathar estate hadn't returned to normal.
Even after the awakening ended, the air still vibrated faintly with leftover aether, as if the chamber itself was trying to catch its breath.
Arav sat wrapped in a thick crimson cloth on a stone bench while Sharanya fussed over him for the fifteenth time.
"Are you dizzy?"
"No."
"Any pain?"
"No."
"Any tightness in your chest?"
"No."
"Any burning sensation—"
"Mother," Arav groaned, "I literally awakened with fire. I am a burning sensation."
Sharanya paused.
"…Fair point."
Isha nodded sagely beside her.
"Bhaiya is extra toasty now."
Aaryan entered the chamber with his usual expression of 'I'm holding it together but internally panicking.'
He looked at Arav.
Then at the slightly melted runes on the floor.
Then at the faint scorch marks on the ceiling.
Then back at Arav.
"…I told you not to explode."
"I didn't!" Arav protested.
Aaryan pointed at the broken corner of a stone mural.
"That cracked."
"That was not me!" Arav insisted.
Sharanya raised a brow. "Then who was it?"
Arav opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
Then pointed vaguely upward.
"…Gravity?"
Isha gasped dramatically. "GRAVITY IS A CULPRIT!"
Aaryan rubbed his eyes. "I need a stronger tea."
"Arav," Aaryan said, regaining some composure, "we need to assess your post-awakening stability."
Arav nodded.
Sharanya guided him to stand in the center of the chamber again.
"Close your eyes," she said softly. "Feel your aether."
Arav inhaled slowly.
The moment he did—
Aether surged.
The torches bent toward him.
Flame murals flickered.
A pulse of golden-orange light rippled outward.
Aaryan stiffened. "Still this strong…?"
But then—
A soft silver shimmer spread beside Arav.
Isha held his sleeve gently, her eyes glowing faintly with moonlit aether.
The ripple softened instantly.
Flames steadied.
Air calmed.
The chamber settled.
Sharanya's eyes softened.
"She stabilizes him without trying…"
Aaryan nodded slowly.
"Her presence was not coincidence."
Arav opened his eyes.
"Did I… lose control again?"
Sharanya placed a hand on his cheek.
"No. You resonated. That's different."
Aaryan added, "Your flame is instinctively reaching outward. That will settle once your core adapts."
As the chamber quieted, Arav noticed something new.
Everything around him had… shape.
Not physical shape—
but aether shape.
The torches glowed with steady currents.
The runes hummed softly beneath his feet.
Even his family radiated warmth, silver, and amber glows.
Sharanya noticed his dazed expression.
"You can see aether now?"
Arav nodded slowly. "I think so."
"What does it look like?" Isha asked eagerly.
Arav pointed at her. "Yours looks like… moonlight in a puddle."
Isha gasped. "Am I a pond!?"
"No—"
"Bhaiya said I'm a pond!"
"Isha, please—"
Sharanya burst into laughter.
Aaryan covered his face again.
A faint tremor rippled through the chamber's outer doors.
Aaryan's expression sharpened.
"Figures from the clan are gathering. They must have sensed the awakening flare."
Sharanya looked at him. "Should we meet them?"
"Not yet," Aaryan said firmly. "He needs time."
Arav blinked. "Is… someone important here?"
Aaryan hesitated—
then nodded slowly.
"Yes. Elders. Researchers. Formation masters. People who shouldn't be this interested in a 4-year-old."
Isha hugged Arav's leg. "Nobody takes bhaiya!"
Sharanya knelt beside her. "No one is taking him, little moon."
But Arav still felt a strange pressure.
Not fear—
just awareness.
People outside sensed power.
Change.
An anomaly.
Suddenly—
A pulse echoed inside Arav's chest.
[Activating: Aether Heart Rune.]
[Stabilizing pathways…]
[Enhancing resonance control…]
[Internal distortion reduced by 62%.]
Arav inhaled sharply as warmth spread through his core.
Sharanya stiffened. "Arav?"
He looked up with wide eyes.
"I… feel lighter."
Aaryan leaned forward. "Explain."
Arav pressed a hand to his chest.
"The recoil… it used to pull at everything. But now it feels… quiet. Like everything inside me is lined up properly."
Isha beamed. "Bhaiya installed a new heart!"
"That's not how it works—" Arav began.
Aaryan whispered under his breath, "Actually… that's not entirely wrong."
A soft gust of wind passed outside the chamber.
Not normal wind.
Aether wind.
It carried the faintest scent of ozone—
fire's natural counterpart.
Arav froze.
Sharanya sensed it too.
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
Aaryan looked toward the ceiling.
"…Thunder left its mark on this day."
Arav didn't speak.
But he felt it.
That same distant echo.
A pulse that wasn't his own.
Fire and thunder rising together.
The Fire-Thunder Twilight.
Someone else out there had awakened a power like his.
Someone he would eventually meet.
Someone whose path was intertwined with his fate.
But that day was not today.
Today—
Arav was home.
With his family.
Safe.
And tomorrow, training would begin again.