CHAPTER ONE – WAKE
He sat there longer than he meant to.
The rain hadn't stopped. It kissed the glass with patience—
not like a storm begging to be heard,
but like a memory that knew it already was.
Zephryn leaned forward slowly, letting the blanket fall.
His feet touched cold wood. The scarf slipped and landed in his lap.
His fingers moved without thinking.
He picked it up, folded it again,
pressed it to his chest.
That dream—
No, not a dream.
It was too clear. Too quiet.
Too true.
There was no cliff in that water.
No explosion. No fire.
Just… descent.
A lightless fall into blue pressure and old silence.
His fingers had reached for something—but not Solara.
Then who?
He closed his eyes again and saw the surface of the water.
Not breaking. Just pulsing.
Waiting.
The hum had been there, just beneath.
Same rhythm. Same depth.
As if the dream had pulled it forward.
Have I been there before…?
He didn't know how to finish the thought.
Didn't want to. Not yet.
Across the dorm, Kaelen stirred and turned over, muttering something sharp under his breath.
Yolti's hand slid from her scarf but stayed wrapped around the edge of her blanket.
Selka… hadn't moved at all.
Zephryn stood.
Soft. Silent. Barefoot.
He crossed to the window.
The veil of mist across the glass made it hard to see,
but he looked anyway.
Out there, beyond the rain,
the Heartbloom Tree swayed gently in the distance—
just visible through the branches,
just enough to remind him they were still inside the kingdom.
But that dream…
That wasn't here.
That wasn't Azurentha.
It was something deeper.
Older.
Still humming now, low and sure beneath his ribs.
He didn't feel afraid.
He felt…
called.