"Sometimes survival demands silence, and strength is measured not in fury, but in the patience to endure the impossible until the world can be faced again."
ELIAS'S POV
The forced return to consciousness was a violent act. The world snapped back into dizzying, painful focus with a jarring psychic lurch. The air was no longer the stale, comforting warmth of my guarded chambers but a punishing, biting cold that snatched the breath from my lungs and instantly chilled my weakened blood. The familiar, deep scent of Alaric's musk, which had been the singular anchor of my fevered trance, was utterly gone, replaced by the sharp, sterile scent of high-level Sunstone magic and raw, frozen earth.
