THE PRICE THAT ANSWERS BACKThe ground answered her.Not with fire.With resistance.The warmth beneath Liana’s feet deepened, spreading outward in slow, deliberate pulses, like a heartbeat syncing to her own. The fractures in the sky shuddered, their golden glow dimming—not retreating, but recalibrating.The ancient hunger did not like that.Its presence pressed closer, heavy enough to make the air thicken. The vast shape shifted within the void, scales grinding against unseen limits.“CHANGE IS A LIE YOU TELL YOURSELVES,” it rumbled. “THE FLAME HAS ONE END.”Liana swallowed hard. Her legs trembled, but she stayed upright.“Then why am I still standing?” she asked.The question wasn’t defiant.It was honest.The void pulsed.For the first time, the hunger did not answer immediately.Aidan felt it too—the hesitation. His fire coiled low and steady, no longer straining to break free, but ready. Waiting.The Watcher’s expression tightened. “Careful,” he warned quietly. “The Trial does n