POV: Aiden

The land didn’t just change it remembered what it was meant to be

The ground answered before I finished steadying my breath.

It wasn’t loud, It wasn’t dramatic, It was certain.

The amethyst dust at my feet warmed, then softened, like the land was loosening a clenched fist. I lowered my sword slowly, listening, not with my ears but with that deep place behind the ribs where truth settles when it has nowhere else to go.

“Kenny,” I said under my breath. “You’re ...