"How did you know that would work?" I didn't yet trust myself to move.
A faint blush colored his ears. "I didn't. But I've observed that your prophetic energy responds to emotional states. When you're calm, it stabilizes."
"And you calm me," I realized, looking up at him with new understanding.
His blush deepened. "I...that is... Bureau protocol suggests that stability in one's environment can contribute to emotional regulation."
I couldn't help but smile despite everything. Even now, he retreated behind regulations when feelings became too raw, too real.
"Thank you," I spared him further discomfort.
He nodded, helping me sit up properly. We were in a small clearing within the grove, surrounded by twisted trees whose branches seemed to reach toward us like grasping hands. The air felt thick, difficult to breathe, and reality itself seemed to waver at the edges of my vision.
"We need to find the others," I tried to stand, but my legs buckled beneath me.
Fenric caught me before I could fall, his arm sliding around my waist to support me. "Carefully. Your body is still adjusting to the influx of prophetic energy."
With his help, I managed to get to my feet, though I had to lean heavily against him. The contact sent a strange ripple through the markings on my skin where they touched his body, as if they recognized him somehow.
"The Library said you were one of the Four Keys," I murmured as we began to make our way through the grove. "Ordered structure."
"A rather simplistic categorization," Fenric replied, though I could tell he was pleased by the designation. "Though not entirely inaccurate."
We moved slowly, navigating through undergrowth that seemed to shift and change when we weren't looking directly at it. The grove had become a labyrinth, paths appearing and disappearing without warning.
"Something's wrong with this place," I observed, watching as a flowering bush dissolved into mist before reforming as a thorny bramble. "It wasn't like this before."
"The Veil is thinning," Fenric's voice was tight with concern. "Reality is becoming unstable, especially in locations with high magical concentrations like this grove."
A distant shout caught our attention, followed by a flash of violet light that illuminated the trees to our left.
"Milo," I recognized the distinctive color of his necromantic magic. "He's in trouble."
We changed direction, moving as quickly as my weakened state would allow. Fenric never complained about bearing most of my weight, his arm steady around my waist as we pushed through increasingly dense vegetation.
"I don't understand why the portal separated us," I panted as we climbed over a fallen log that hadn't been there moments before. "The Library said we needed to stay together."
"Perhaps it wasn't intentional," Fenric suggested. "The strain on the Veil might have affected the portal's stability."
Another flash of violet light, closer now, followed by the unmistakable sound of Zane's voice raised in alarm. We quickened our pace, bursting through a wall of foliage into a small clearing.
The scene before us froze us in our tracks. Milo stood at the center of a necromantic circle, violet energy crackling around him as he maintained a protective barrier. Within the circle, Zane knelt beside Rook, who lay motionless on the ground, his face contorted in pain. Surrounding them were shadowy figuresthat seemed to flicker in and out of existence, neither fully present nor entirely absent.
"Harbinger cultists," Fenric whispered, his arm tightening around me protectively.
One of the figures turned at the sound of his voice, its hooded face revealing nothing but darkness where features should be. It raised a hand in our direction, and reality itself seemed to bend around its fingers.
"Winter," Fenric's voice was urgent in my ear. "Can you channel your power? We need to break through to them."
I stared at the shadowy figures, fear threatening to overwhelm me. After everything we'd learned in the Library, after seeing what had happened to my predecessor, the thought of using my power deliberately terrified me.
"I don't know if I can control it," the blue markings pulsing erratically with my rising panic.
"You can," Fenric's voice held absolute certainty. "I've seen your strength, your resilience. Trust yourself, Winter."
His faith in me, so unexpected from someone who documented my every magical mishap, gave me courage. I took a deep breath and focused on the energy flowing through my markings, not fighting it this time but directing it, shaping it with my will.
"Cover your eyes," I warned Fenric, then thrust both hands forward.
