Sera's Pov
The roar of the crowd echoed in my skull.
I stood in the training ground once again, dust swirling around my boots, the sun glaring down like a watchful god.
The air was heavy—thick with the scent of blood and exhaustion. It felt real. But I knew it wasn't. Beneath my feet, the grass of the competition field curled unnaturally, as if scorched by something invisible. I was back there—back at the competition where I had to fight so I wouldn't be sent out first in the raid that happened not long after this. The same competition where after Kael's show I got stabbed with sliver by the trainee I was polut against, Enzo.
The world pulsed faintly at the edges, like a painting smeared just slightly by rain.
