Arden had watched them grow, Nyra weaving hybrid spells with ease, Rael turning speed and force into instinct. And though he rarely said much, pride sat quietly in his chest. He had helped shape this, nudged them forward when it counted, and now, they were beginning to walk their own paths.
But he hadn't been idle.
The organization that haunted the edges of their path wasn't going to sit still. And Arden knew too well that when things went wrong, they could be split apart.
That kind of separation was dangerous, especially when the enemy had already shown they could trace them, track them, even anticipate their movements.
"If they can follow us," he muttered one morning, fingers absently tapping his wrist, "why can't I do the same?"
It started as a whisper of an idea. Life energy wasn't just force. It was connection. He had used it to heal, to sense pain, to feel the tremor of footsteps across the ground. What if it could do more?
