C183 THE REALM THAT ANSWERED HER

The Core did not roar.

It listened.

That truth settled into Aria’s bones as the light beneath the Inner Passage expanded, slow and deliberate, like breath pulled by something ancient and patient. The heat no longer burnt her skin. It wrapped around her, recognizing rather than consuming.

Above, the struggle for power shook the realm again.

Elara’s fire tore across the sky in controlled arcs