Chapter 13 Beneath The Surface

• They traveled under cover of mist and silence, the forest ahead dim and tangled, the world behind them burned and broken. Kael’s injuries were healing—slowly—but Elira never strayed more than a breath away from him. She kept him steady when the pain caught him off-guard, and when his power flickered beneath his skin, she simply took his hand.
• They were bound now—not by fate, not by prophecy—but by choice. That was the difference. That was everything.
• By dusk, they reached the edge of a ruined town swallowed by ivy and ash. Cracked stone buildings stood like ghosts of another time, their windows gaping, their doors long gone. It was a place Kael remembered. A place Elira had only heard of in half-whispered tales.