### Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Threshold
The morning of the surgery dawned gray and quiet, the air heavy with a mist that clung to the van's windows as they loaded up. Syan sat in the back, the motorized chair strapped in, the oxygen unit humming at his side. Lila climbed in beside him, her backpack stuffed with the dragon book and a sandwich she'd insisted on packing "for luck." His parents took the front, his father's hands tight on the wheel, his mother's voice murmuring directions despite the route they'd planned.
The drive was long, the road humming beneath them, and Lila filled the silence with chatter—school stories, pirate battles from the new book—her voice a lifeline against the nerves coiling in Syan's chest. He listened, nodding when she paused, the rhythm of her words steadying him as the miles slipped by.
The hospital loomed at the edge of the city, a sprawl of concrete and glass Syan couldn't see but felt in the shift of sounds—car horns fading, doors hissing open, the faint echo of voices in a sterile hall. His father wheeled him inside, the chair's hum swallowed by the bustle, while Lila stuck close, her hand brushing his arm.
Dr. Chen met them in pre-op, his clipped tone cutting through the haze. "Quick procedure," he said, his hands rustling papers. "Under an hour—small incision, implant goes in, we test it. You'll be awake after, Syan. Any questions?"
"Works right away?" Lila asked, her voice sharp with hope.
"Not quite," Dr. Chen said. "Takes days, maybe weeks, to adjust—nerves need time to respond. We'll know more post-op."
Syan nodded, the reality sinking in. "Let's do it."
They prepped him fast—his parents signing forms, Lila squeezing his hand as the nurse wheeled him away. "See you soon, dragon," she said, her voice fierce despite the tremor in it.
"Count on it," he replied, holding her strength as the doors swung shut.
The operating room was cold, the air sharp with antiseptic, and Syan focused on the beeps of monitors as they numbed his back. Dr. Chen's voice guided him through—calm, precise—and the procedure blurred into a haze of pressure, not pain. He felt the tug of the implant settling under his skin, a foreign weight promising more than it could yet prove.
When he woke in recovery, the fog of anesthesia clung, but Lila's voice broke through first. "Syan? You're back!" She was there, her hand finding his, her relief a tangible thing.
"Yeah," he rasped, the oxygen unit still humming. "Done?"
"Done," Dr. Chen confirmed, stepping in. "Went smooth. Stimulator's active—low pulse for now. We'll ramp it up tomorrow, see what fires."
His parents hovered behind Lila, their silence heavy but warm. "You okay?" his mother asked, her voice thick.
"Feel weird," he said, honest. "But okay."
"Good," his father said, gruff but steady. "Rest up. We're here."
The threshold was crossed—no turning back now. Syan lay there, Lila's hand in his, the faint buzz of the stimulator a whisper under his skin. It wasn't triumph yet, just a beginning, but with them beside him, it was enough to step into whatever came next.
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Let me know if you'd like Chapter 30 or any changes here! The surgery's done—want to see the recovery arc next?