Grey woke to silence.

  Dust coated everything.

  Stone pressed against his shoulder.

  Pain radiated through his ribs.

  He blinked.

  Faint blue light pulsed nearby.

  A single intact storm crystal remained embedded in a cracked wall.

  He shifted carefully.

  HP: 32/140.

  Mana: 0/130.

  Level 11.

  Stormbound Initiate.

  He remembered the explosion.

  The chains.

  Lyra.

  He turned.

  She lay a few feet away, partially shielded by fallen debris.

  Her breathing was steady.

  But faint arcs of lightning still crawled along her skin unconsciously.

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  He crawled toward her slowly.

  Each movement hurt.

  He touched her shoulder.

  "Lyra."

  Her eyes opened.

  Still faintly glowing.

  But dimming.

  "You're alive," she murmured.

  "Barely."

  She sat up slowly.

  Stone shifted dangerously overhead.

  They were buried deep.

  Storm Sense was muted again.

  But not gone.

  "They retreated," she said.

  "Yeah."

  She looked at him more carefully.

  "You pulled too much."

  "So did you."

  She didn't argue.

  Instead, she closed her eyes briefly.

  "I breached."

  "Partially?"

  "Yes."

  "How bad?"

  She flexed her hand.

  Lightning flared briefly.

  Then stabilized.

  "The seal cracked. It didn't shatter."

  Grey exhaled slowly.

  "Good."

  Silence settled between them.

  Then she looked at him differently.

  "You synchronized."

  "With you?"

  "Yes."

  He nodded.

  "I felt it."

  "That should not have been possible."

  "Starting to hear that a lot."

  A faint rumble echoed somewhere above.

  The collapse wasn't done.

  They needed to move.

  Grey pushed himself upright, leaning against stone.

  "Can you walk?"

  "Yes."

  She stood first.

  Offered him a hand.

  He took it.

  As he did—

  A faint pulse passed between them.

  Resonance.

  Stable this time.

  Not explosive.

  They felt it simultaneously.

  Balance.

  The storm crystal nearby brightened slightly.

  Grey glanced at it.

  Then at her.

  "We're not done, are we?"

  "No," she said quietly.

  "The Argent Veil escalated. That means next time, it won't just be Kael."

  He nodded slowly.

  "Then we escalate too."

  She studied him.

  "You're not afraid."

  "I am."

  He met her gaze steadily.

  "But I'm not running."

  Something softened in her expression.

  Just slightly.

  Above them, distant daylight filtered faintly through a crack in the rubble.

  A narrow exit.

  Grey looked at it.

  "Let's move before this place finishes burying us."

  They began climbing.

  And somewhere far away—

  In a chamber of polished black stone—

  A masked figure watched a projection of the battle replaying in fractured light.

  "Stormbound confirmed," the voice murmured.

  "Phase Two begins."