Chapter Ten — Limits

  Aethyrion didn’t make it far.

  They were halfway down a narrow street when the world tilted.

  At first, he thought it was just dizziness—lightheadedness from hunger and lack of sleep. Then his knees buckled without warning, the strength draining from his legs like someone had pulled a switch.

  He barely had time to brace before hitting the pavement.

  “Whoa—hey!” Kai shouted, grabbing him before his head struck the ground.

  Aethyrion’s vision blurred. The city noise dulled, like it was being muffled underwater. His armor tried to compensate, systems flaring briefly before shutting themselves down.

  Too much, his body warned.

  Too many hours.

  Too many fights.

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  Too much strain without rest.

  “I’m fine,” Aethyrion muttered weakly, though he very clearly wasn’t.

  “Yeah, no,” Kai said, hauling him upright with more effort than expected. “You’re not.”

  He half-dragged, half-guided Aethyrion into a nearby stairwell and eased him down onto the steps. Cool concrete pressed against Aethyrion’s back as he slid down, breathing hard.

  The armor finally went still.

  Silent.

  That scared him.

  Kai crouched in front of him. “You got a condition or something?”

  Aethyrion shook his head slowly. “Just… pushed too far.”

  Kai frowned. “You’re shaking.”

  Aethyrion looked down. His hands trembled uncontrollably.

  “I don’t usually stop,” he admitted.

  Kai didn’t ask what that meant.

  Instead, he sat beside him, offering a bottle of water. “Then today’s the day you learn how.”

  Aethyrion drank, the coolness grounding him just enough to keep the world from slipping away. He leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes.

  For the first time since escaping, he let himself rest—really rest.

  And for the first time, he noticed something else.

  A low, distant pressure. Not inside him—around him. Like the city itself carried a weight he couldn’t see yet.

  “Something’s wrong here,” Aethyrion murmured.

  Kai glanced at him. “Wrong how?”

  “I don’t know,” he said honestly. “But I don’t think it’s just me they’re watching.”

  Kai went quiet.

  Outside, sirens wailed somewhere far off. Not close enough to panic—but close enough to remind him that the world wasn’t as random as it looked.

  After a few minutes, Aethyrion’s shaking slowed. Strength crept back into his limbs, cautious and incomplete.

  Limits.

  He hated the word—but it was real.

  Kai stood and offered a hand. “Come on. I know a place where you can lie low for a bit.”

  Aethyrion took it.

  As they climbed the stairs, he glanced out at the city through a narrow window. People moved below, unaware of the forces quietly aligning around them.

  This wasn’t just about survival anymore.

  The world was bigger than the forest.

  Bigger than the city.

  And somehow—he was already part of it.

  End of Chapter Ten