The golden light didn’t fade overnight.

By the second dawn, the lake no longer looked like water at all. It pulsed, slow and steady, like a giant heart beating beneath the earth. Every ripple shone gold and silver, moving in rhythm with something unseen.

I could hear it even when I closed my eyes. A soft humming. A dream’s breath.

Kael stood beside me, jaw tight. “It’s alive.”

I nodded. “It’s waking.”

The Moonfire crouched near the edge, her silver hair glowing faintly. ...