Chapter 16 After The Storm

• The air smelled like ash and rain.
• Kael stood at the edge of Durnhold’s broken walls, the sun low on the horizon—gold bleeding into smoke. Soldiers moved quietly behind him, collecting the wounded, burning the remnants of the Woken. No one spoke much. Victory was a strange silence. It didn’t roar. It settled.
• He couldn’t feel the weight of his sword anymore. Just the pull in his ribs, the ache in his soul.