The light from the resonant flare still shimmered faintly in the air above them, like the sky hadn't quite decided whether to let go. The triangle Rhazir had drawn in the dirt was now scorched into the ground, its edges glowing red-hot beneath a thin layer of smoke. Kazi and Dakarai stepped back, both wide-eyed, both shaking from the intensity of what they'd just done.
Kazi wiped sweat from her brow with the sleeve of her hoodie. "That felt like… more than both of us."
"It was," Rhazir said, stepping forward slowly. "You didn't just combine powers. You synchronized. When that happens, the mark responds with a surge. It's rare. Dangerous. But powerful."
Dakarai let out a slow breath, sparks still dancing along his arm. "I felt like I lost control for a second. Like the mark was pulling me somewhere."
"Because it was," Rhazir replied. "The resonance pulls from memory, instinct, and the Line itself. If you're not grounded in yourself, you'll get swept into something you don't understand."
Kazi glanced at Dakarai. "Did you see anything?"
He shook his head. "Nope, I didn't see anything. But it felt like… pressure. And something or someone was watching."
Rhazir crouched near the edge of the burned triangle, dragging his fingers through the dirt again. "You both need to rest. You just sent a flare across half of Amani."
"You think someone noticed?" Kazi asked.
Rhazir didn't look up. "I think someone's already moving."
They returned to the arches by midday, the sun peeking weakly through the clouds. The air had grown still, the wind too quiet for the open hills. It felt like the world was holding its breath again.
Kazi sat against a large stone, her hands wrapped around a water flask, sipping slowly. Dakarai paced a short distance away, his arms folded, eyes locked on the horizon. The silence between them had shifted. It wasn't tense, just different. A silent acknowledgment that they'd crossed into new territory.
"You ever think about before all this?" Kazi asked suddenly.
Dakarai stopped pacing and looked over. "Before the mark? Sure. All the time."
"I feel like I'm forgetting who I was," she said. "Like I've stepped into someone else's life."
He walked over and sat across from her. "You haven't. It's still your life. Just... upgraded."
She smiled faintly. "That's one word for it."
He chuckled. "You?"
"What?"
"Who were you before?"
She paused. "A dancer. A student. A dreamer, I guess. I wanted to travel, write, see more of Amani than the skyline of Novara. Now I'm doing it... just not the way I thought."
Dakarai nodded. "I used to work with my uncle on grid repairs. Power lines, storm damage. Always liked the noise, the hum of the current. Never thought I'd become part of it."
They sat in silence for a while, the wind picking up gently now, brushing past like a whisper.
Rhazir returned carrying a bundle of dry sticks and leaves. "Enough rest. One more round before nightfall."
Kazi groaned. "You don't believe in recovery days, do you?"
Rhazir didn't respond. He dropped the kindling near the fire pit and began drawing another symbol into the dirt, more complex this time, circular with layered edges.
"This is a channel ring," he said. "If either of you can hold energy inside it for more than ten seconds without breaking the ring, you're ready for the next phase."
Dakarai raised an eyebrow. "And what's the next phase?"
"Precision," Rhazir replied. "Because the next time you flare like that... someone might not survive it."
They each look at each other with concern before they took their positions on opposite ends of the ring. The light returned, fainter this time, but no less beautiful. It danced between them in arcs and pulses.
And somewhere, far off in the distance, beyond hills, rivers, and stone, something ancient stirred at the touch of their power.