Even after Eron’s burial, the air of the city still felt heavy, as if something were trapped between the buildings and alleyways. People walked in silence, avoiding the abandoned field, avoiding looking at the sky.
But the Sealers did not leave.
While some departed with Aurelion, others remained.
They spread throughout the city.
Some went to the gates, checking if more rifts had appeared.Others moved through the poorest streets, where the destruction of the previous night still marked the houses.
Among them were the Sealer medics.
Their seals bore a different symbol: a circle split by a leaf of light.
Echoes of Life.
Their power was not meant to attack.Not meant to fight.
It existed only to keep people alive.
Ren watched from a distance.
They healed the wounded, closed cuts, removed pain that seemed impossible to endure. Wherever they touched, ?nima reacted like a warm breeze.
Then something tightened inside him.
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He thought of home.
He thought of Mara.
Ren hesitated.
Kael noticed.
“Go,” he said softly. “If you don’t try, you’ll regret it.”
Ren ran.
The house was still the same: small, simple, smelling of weak medicine and old herbs.
Mara lay in bed, struggling to breathe.
Ren called the Sealer medics.
Two of them entered.
A dark-haired woman with calm eyes.And a tall man, with ?nima markings climbing up his neck.
They touched Mara’s forehead.
The light appeared.
But unlike the others, it did not react.
The glow faltered.
The two exchanged a glance.
“It is not an injury.”“It is not a common illness.”“And… it does not respond to the Echo of Life.”
Ren felt the ground vanish beneath him.
“What does she have?” he asked, his voice breaking.
The woman took a deep breath.
“We don’t know.”
The silence was worse than any answer.
“We have never seen anything like this. Her ?nima is… unstable. As if something is draining from within, but there is no mark, no visible curse.”
Ren dropped to his knees.
Kael entered moments later, unsure what to say.
The male Sealer knelt before Ren.
“We will take care of her.”“We will study this.”“And we will try to find a cure.”
He paused.
“But it will be a long road.”
Ren clenched his fists.
The same weight returned to his chest.
But now… there was something different.
Hope.
Small.Fragile.But alive.
And in that moment, Ren swore:
He would not let the world take his mother from him.
Never.
Not every battle is fought with blades or power.
Some are fought with patience, love, and endurance.
Ren’s true war has only just begun.