They didn't move for a long time after it disappeared.
Not because they couldn't.
But because something about that encounter demanded stillness.
The wind had returned.
The pressure was gone.
The land had sealed itself as if nothing had happened.
But the silence—
That silence felt different now.
Heavier.
Knowing.
Liora stood where the fracture had been, her gaze fixed on empty ground that no longer looked broken. Her fingers were still slightly curled, like she expected the world to split open again at any second.
"…It's gone."
Her voice sounded distant.
Even to herself.
Cairis didn't step away from her.
"…For now."
That answer didn't help.
But it was honest.
She exhaled slowly.
Trying to steady something inside her that hadn't fully settled.
"…It said I'd come back."
"Yes."
"That didn't sound like a possibility."
"No."
A pause.
"…It sounded like a promise."
Silence.
Because they both knew—
It probably was.
Liora turned away from the sealed ground.
