The light returned as a pulse, not a dawn.

It shivered across the fractured sky like a heartbeat dragged through silver, too slow, too deliberate. For a long moment, it was only that — a rhythm, a pattern echoing in the emptiness between worlds.

Then came breath.

And with it, Rhovan.

He emerged from the mirror’s heart like a reflection deciding to step out of the glass. His body was not flesh at first but a storm of light and shadow, the remnant of what had escaped the ...