I stretched my arms, feeling the residual force of aether still flickering through my veins.
The sensation was intoxicating — an electric, ecstatic pulse that seemed to breathe life into every fiber of my being.
For a long moment, I simply basked in it, letting the power settle into my bones.
But then, reality snapped back.
Seren.
The name crashed into my mind like a tidal wave. She hadn't returned.
Even when the very fabric of reality had trembled and fractured during my Awakening, she hadn't shown up.
The realization struck me with growing unease.
Without wasting another second, I bolted out of the crystal room, my mind already racing ahead to the next segment of the Malthorn trial.
The door groaned open with a heavy screech — and what greeted me beyond it froze me in place.
Bones.
Mountains of them.
Skeletal remains littered the ground like discarded trash, piled high and wide, covering every inch of the cracked floor.
