Chapter 25 The Weight Of Light

• The days passed like held breaths, and Ellie kept practicing. Every sunrise was a promise of improvement, and every night a harsh reality: no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t match Cherize’s skill. Her body moved with effort, her steps were heavy where the lycanthrope’s were light, her spins tense where Cherize’s flowed like a river that knows its course well.
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• She rose before dawn, when the forest was still asleep. She went to bed when the stars had already been in the sky for hours. She lived among stretches, repetitions, corrections, and bruises that weren’t always visible. Her legs burned as if every muscle rebelled against her; her breath caught mid-step. Sometimes her hands trembled so much she could barely tie her hair. But she kept going.