The air in the junkyard still smelled of smoke and scorched metal.
The earth trembled occasionally from the aftershocks of the explosion, but the pulsing divine magic that had threatened to consume them was gone.
What remained was faint, almost harmless, little more than a residue clinging to shattered fragments of the device.
Lucius stood in the center of it all, his hands behind his back, watching the others carefully scavenge.
They moved slower this time, far more deliberate. Nobody wanted to risk setting off another reaction. Jamie barked quiet orders to the scavengers, telling them which shards to touch and which to leave alone.
Mira bent low over a broken piece of crystal, her expression sharp as she brushed ash off its surface and wrapped it securely in cloth.
Even Luna and Verus, usually restless, were silent and cautious, moving only when Mira told them it was safe. Their earlier recklessness had been burned out of them by the explosion.
