Back in the real world, Nero opened his eyes.
The night sky stretched above him, vast and indifferent, the stars scattered like diamonds across a velvet cloth. The mountain was silent, the only sound the whisper of wind through the pines and the distant hum of the academy below. He sat on his mat, cross-legged, his breathing slow and steady.
A smile touched his lips—rare, genuine, satisfied. His usual stoic expression softened, just for a moment. The awakening of the fourth law had settled into his being, cool and calm, like the depths of an ocean. His strength had grown again, not incrementally, but in leaps. He could feel it in his bones, in the pulse of his cores, in the way the ambient prana seemed to recognize him now, to acknowledge his presence.
