The winds in the Circle of Resonance had begun to stir again.
Standing at the perimeter, Naena observed the three before her—Kaelen, Lila, and Kelvin. Their gazes were steel, their breaths steady, though each of them held a weight behind their eyes only trauma could sculpt.
"Are you truly ready?" she asked in a voice that trembled not from doubt, but reverence for the path ahead.
Kaelen nodded.
"We must be. Besides, we don't particularly have time on our side."
Kelvin clenched his fist over his chest. "Even if the winds tear through our soul, I will not yield."
Lila's eyes, now tinted with a faint silver shimmer from her awakened Seer bloodline, stared forward. "If I can't rise above the storm, I'll die in it. But I won't die running."
Naena gave a single approving nod. "Then step forward."
The Circle flared.
