The road did not feel the same anymore.
It still stretched forward, long and unbroken, cutting through dust and scattered trees as it always had. The land around it remained unchanged at a glance—dry earth, uneven ground, wind brushing past in quiet, familiar patterns. It still carried that distant rhythm, the subtle sense that it connected places far beyond what the eye could see. And yet, beneath all of that, something had shifted in a way that could not be traced to the surface. It was not the ground that had changed, nor the wind that moved across it.
It was the direction.
Not where the road physically led, but what it meant to walk it.
Karna walked at the same steady pace, his steps measured and even, each one placed with quiet certainty. There was no visible change in his movement, no hesitation or increase in speed. To anyone watching, he would appear exactly as before—calm, composed, unwavering. But within him, something had widened.
