The light consumed him whole.
It scorched him from the inside out—searing radiance wrapping around his body, a firestorm licking at his skin, peeling it away layer by layer.
Then came the screams—raw, gut-wrenching, animalistic cries that pierced through the roar of the blaze.
They rang in his ears, deafening. Terrifying.
And then came the realization.
They were his.
The burning intensified, a white-hot agony that swallowed him entirely. He felt his flesh blistering, muscles spasming, his body melting beneath the unrelenting heat. His lungs seized—not from smoke, but from light itself, as if the radiance had invaded every breath, every cell.
Every nerve shrieked for mercy. But there was none.
And then—something cold.
It began as a whisper against his skin, like the ghost of a breeze inside the inferno. Then it grew. A cool presence, like water over coals, spreading across his body—not enough to extinguish the blaze, but enough to keep him from shattering.
Through the blinding light, he saw it.
A hand.
Pale. Calm. Outstretched toward him.
It brushed his own—cool and solid—anchoring him, pulling him from the heart of the inferno.
He clung to it, desperate, as the fire began to fade. The pain ebbed, the searing radiance receding like a tide. What remained was warmth—deep and steady, coiled in his chest like a new sun.
His breath trembled. His limbs shook. But something inside him had shifted.
Something had changed.
And for the first time, he felt it: wholeness.
His eyes fluttered open.
Above him loomed the blurred form of his professor, gripping him by the shoulders—tight, as though afraid to let go.
The man's usual lazy demeanor was gone, replaced by something Ezra had never seen on him before: shock.
Water drenched them both, steaming off their skin in hazy tendrils as the roar of the waterfall crashed behind them.
His professor's reptilian pupils were dilated, wide and unfocused. In his emerald gaze shimmered something unspoken—uncertainty. Worry.
He looked… shaken.
His robe clung to his frame, soaked through, the ends plastered to the rock around him. His exposed skin was flushed a raw shade of pink, like he'd been dunked in boiling water.
His voice came out ragged.
"What… was that?"
Gone was the usual dry humor, the smug edge. In its place: a raw, breathless tone. Like a man who had witnessed something far beyond understanding.
Ezra didn't respond. He couldn't.
Because for the first time in his life—
he didn't know.
His breath hitched.
A flicker of light shimmered in the air.
A pulse—soft, rhythmic.
Then, a screen materialized in front of his professor. Translucent. Glowing. Hovering in the mist between them.
The man blinked. Slowly.
He waved a hand through it—his fingers passed through like smoke.
"Huh," he muttered, voice still hoarse. His gaze scanned the glowing text.
[ Resonance Archive Updating… ]
Soul Core: Awakening (Incomplete)
Aether Circulation: 32% (Limited Flow)
Aether Capacity: 600 / 1000
Synchronization: Unstable (18%)
Lightflow Control: 12% (Weak)
Abilities Available: [2 / 7 Unlocked]
Soul Sanctuary: [Locked]
Soul Realm: [Undiscovered]