Nova dreamed she stood once more at the Falls of Elaran's Veil.
Mist breathed against her skin, cold and sweet, the roar of water so loud it seemed to hollow the air itself. The world felt sharper than memory, too precise to be anything but a dream that wished to be real. Her breath caught when she saw him.
Riven Ashbane.
Instinct seized her body before thought could intervene. She froze where she stood, terror locking her joints, heart stuttering as though it meant to abandon her entirely. His presence scraped at her nerves, old dread rising like a bruise pressed too hard. Yet he did not look at her. His gaze cut through the space she occupied as though she were nothing more than mist.
He walked forward and passed straight through her.
She turned, breath shaking, watching him stride toward the precipice without pause or hesitation. He leapt.
Nova rushed to the edge in time to see him fall, cloak snapping violently in the wind. Black smoke flared from his hands, magic folding the air itself, weaving into a broad, taut canopy that bloomed above him. A parachute of aether, elegant and precise.
Without thinking, she jumped after him.
The wind tore a startled sound from her throat as she fell, panic flaring hot and bright. Then instinct answered instinct. Silver bled from her veins, light pouring from her hands as she reached into the air and shaped it. Aether Fabrication. She had done it before, small things. A bow. Arrows. Rigid, obedient constructs. This was different.
A parachute spread above her made of pure silver magic. The pull snapped her hard, stealing her breath, but she did not fall further. Laughter almost broke from her in shock. It came naturally. And Riven had taught her how without meaning to.
Below, Riven moved first.
Before the water could claim him, he cast again. A bridge erupted from nothing, magic hardening into a sweeping arc that curved straight into the heart of the waterfall. At its end, the stone tunneled inward, swallowed by the cascading veil.
Nova released her parachute and landed running.
Her boots struck the bridge with a sharp slap as she chased him, mist slicking the surface, silver light still humming faintly beneath her skin. Water thundered around her, the world narrowing to the echo of his steps and the pounding of her heart.
He vanished into the tunnel, and she followed.
A basin already stood at the center of the cave, where she had been with Jax.
Riven skidded to a halt.
"No," he shouted, the sound raw with fury. His voice tore through the chamber as he stared at the basin, hands clenched, magic flaring wild around him in frustrated disbelief.
He laughed once, sharp and wrong. "Of course," he murmured. "The silver has started to remember."
His smile lingered as his eyes shifted fully to her.
"You see me now," he said quietly. "Good."
He moved toward her.
Nova sat bolt upright in bed, the dream shattering violently. A high-pitched scream tore from her throat, raw and piercing, her body snapping awake as though wrenched from deep water. Her chest heaved as she fought for breath, heart slamming so hard it hurt.
She was still in her training suit, sprawled across the bed she shared with Fin, the covers untouched beneath her.
Pain detonated behind her eyes.
It was sudden and vicious, a blinding surge that felt as though something had struck her mind from the inside.
Across the castle, Fin staggered at the same instant, his hand flying to his head as the echo of it ripped through him, sharp and wrong.
Nova's eyes rolled back.
Her body went slack, breath leaving her in a broken sound as she collapsed, consciousness tearing away without warning.