The academy felt different the morning after the Dark Guardian's intervention—like a weight that no one had realized they were carrying had suddenly lifted.
Students moved through crystalline corridors with a lightness in their steps that spoke of pressures released, while faculty members gathered in research halls with excitement that hadn't been present in weeks.
The mysterious resolution of everyone's external problems had created an atmosphere of possibility that seemed to energize the very stones of the ancient institution.
Young Scholar Thomas Brightblade sat in the great library, staring at a letter from his father that still seemed too good to be true.
The shipping contracts that had threatened to destroy their family business weren't just restored—they'd been improved with terms that would secure their prosperity for generations. No explanation, no demands for repayment, just sudden resolution of problems that had seemed insurmountable.
