Page 71
Story: Ashes to Ashes
I take it. Metal goes arctic cold against my palm like it recognizes the earth magic flowing beneath my skin. As it touches me, thorns dim visibly, retreating millimeters beneath flesh. My enhanced awareness dulls to manageable levels.
“Twenty-eight years of wearing a magical muzzle and I never knew it. Someone’s got a sick sense of humor—or a really impressive long-term strategy.”
The warrior watches with interest. “An interesting question. What does your blood tell you?”
My hand rebels against putting the chain around my throat. The thought of re-caging whatever’s awakened makes my stomach lurch with visceral disgust.
Without breaking eye contact with the warrior, I pocket the pendant.
“Choices shape the dawn,” she observes, approval flickering in those ancient depths.
“Right, because nothing says ‘business as usual’ like showing up to Combat Theory covered in mystical dirt with glowing plant tattoos. That won’t raise any questions.”
The warrior’s laughter surprises me—stones grinding together, rough but genuine. “Human schedules persist even as human biology fades. Perhaps this earth-claiming serves purpose.”
“Still waiting on that introduction, by the way. Unless ‘mysterious ancient warrior’ is how you prefer to be addressed. I can work with that.”
She smiles enigmatically. “Names have power, root-born. You’ll learn mine when you’re ready to hear it.”
She steps back, “Path straightens for your return. Follow quickly.”
As if summoned by her words, a trail appears between trees—arrow-straight, glowing faintly blue.
Obviously unnatural after the forest’s usual dimensional fuck-you.
I turn to thank her, but the ancient warrior has dissolved into dawn shadows, Whispen’s golden glow the last to fade.
The path back feels different beneath my transformed feet. Each step sends awareness rippling through soil-infused skin. My clothes stick to me, dirt and plant matter refusing all attempts at cleaning. Thorns pulse hypnotically through fabric, blue-green light painting my skin in alien patterns.
Halfway to the Academy, the real change hits.
Enhanced senses explode like a grenade going off in my skull.
I hear conversations from Academy grounds a mile away. Individual heartbeats of students waking. Specific words floating on impossible air currents.
Scents crash over me in devastating waves. Every flower. Every breakfast cooking. Every person who’s walked this path in the last week floods my nostrils until I gag.
My skin crawls with awareness of every insect. Every shift of wind. Every vibration through earth.
Colors strobe behind my eyelids—too bright, too many, more shades than human eyes should process.
Too much.
Too fucking much.
I stagger off the path, slamming my back against an ancient oak as my knees buckle. The tree’s heartbeat thunders through my spine—massive, patient, older than civilization. My vision tunnels, hands shaking as I press my palms against the bark while my nervous system threatens to overload completely.
“Can’t—too much—” I gasp. “Sensory overload. Like someone turned every dial to eleven and forgot to mention it might scramble my brain.”
“Breathe, root-born.”
The voice cuts through chaos like warm honey poured over exposed nerves, settling something wild in my chest. Low and rough, familiar in ways that bypass my brain and speak directly to newly awakened instincts.
The safety in his scent.
Orion emerges from green shadows like the forest birthed him. No sound of approach. No disturbed leaves. He simply materializes wearing that devastating grin that makes my stomach flip despite the sensory onslaught threatening to tear my skull apart.
He’s dressed for wilderness, not lectures. Leather vest over bronze skin. Boots made for tracking through untamed places. Auburn hair catches early light, red gleaming like living flame.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71 (Reading here)
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182
- Page 183
- Page 184
- Page 185
- Page 186
- Page 187
- Page 188
- Page 189
- Page 190
- Page 191
- Page 192
- Page 193
- Page 194
- Page 195
- Page 196
- Page 197
- Page 198
- Page 199
- Page 200
- Page 201
- Page 202
- Page 203
- Page 204
- Page 205
- Page 206
- Page 207
- Page 208
- Page 209
- Page 210
- Page 211
- Page 212
- Page 213