The lightning faded behind him, its echo leaving only the steady buzz of residual energy across Damien's skin. Every nerve was still alive with static, but his breath came steady now, and his legs no longer wavered. His muscles had learned to absorb the current, to ground and release it, and as he reached the final step of the lightning trial, the three-hundredth, his necromantic core surged in quiet triumph.
He did not look back.
He looked up.
And the path still stretched endlessly onward.
