Chapter 54: The Silence After Power
last update2025-12-13 20:23:18

CHAPTER 54 — The Silence After Power

Silence was never empty.

Auren learned that as he lay beneath a broken sky, staring at clouds that refused to close. The wind passed over him, cold and ordinary, and for the first time since the sigil had awakened, it carried no shared meaning.

No echo of Lyra’s breath within it.

No warmth of Eira’s fire humming in his chest.

No sharp edge of Corren’s restless humor.

No calm lattice of Silas’s thoughts.

Just wind.

Just him.

The absence was suffocating.

They had moved him to the remnants of an old watchtower on the edge of the ruined city — a place where the stone still stood and the void裂 in the sky loomed distant enough not to scream at them constantly. Lyra had woven barriers of air to keep debris and lingering corruption away. Silas etched stabilizing runes into the floor, hands shaking from exhaustion. Corren stood guard at the broken doorway, unusually quiet.

Eira hadn’t left Auren’s side.

She sat with her back against the stone wall, knees dr
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