"Power is nothing without anchors. Strength is hollow without connection. And even in the storm of truth, love remains the hand that steadies the chaos."
The shock of Lord Ostel's confession was a blinding light, fracturing my carefully constructed reality. I am your father. The words echoed in the cold annex, shattering the official narrative of my life, the simple, contained tragedy of my Beta parents who died for the Law. I stood paralysed, the surge of my Panther's power erupting uncontrollably. The air shimmered, and the manacles on the rogue mage's wrists flared, screaming under the psychic pressure. My mind raced, trying to reconcile the meticulous, dry Head of Treasury with the image of a secret, protective father.
He started explaining how he met my mother and her powers, and then she went missing and left him heartbroken.
"That's a lie!" I roared, the psychic force of my denial cracking the surface of the nearest stone wall.
