The silence did not last.
It shattered.
"SEBASTIAN—!"
Aliena's scream tore through the training grounds, raw and unfiltered, echoing violently against stone and sky as she dropped fully to her knees beside him.
Her hands trembled as she reached for him—
"…wake up—please—"
Her fingers brushed his shoulder.
And everything went wrong.
Sebastian's body reacted instantly.
A violent surge of dark energy exploded outward from him—not visible like flame, but felt—like pressure collapsing in on itself and snapping back.
Aliena was thrown back.
Not far.
But enough.
Enough to break contact.
Enough to terrify her.
She stared at him, breath catching.
"…no."
Her voice shook now.
"No, no—what—what was that—"
Sebastian lay unmoving.
But his body—
was not still.
Subtle.
Wrong.
Like something beneath his skin was reacting in waves, rejecting, resisting, fighting.
Aliena crawled back toward him, slower this time.
Careful.
Terrified.
