It wasn't until dawn that Jaquan awoke.
The realm was silent.
The thunder had calmed.
He sat up slowly, muscles trembling with residual voltage. His skin—newly formed—shimmered with faint lightning marks: bolts etched across his arms, chest, and spine. His eyes held clarity. His breath carried resonance.
He was stronger.
Transcendent.
But also... human again.
Lara didn't wait.
She rushed into his arms.
Jaquan embraced her—his strength gentle, his touch precise. He kissed her forehead.
"Sorry I made you worry."
She cried into him.
"I'm just glad you're okay."
He smiled and leaned toward her belly, his hand pressed flat against the swell of life. Then he kissed it.
"And how's my little one doing?"
There was no answer.
Just a kick.
Strong. Resonant.
A spark of qi pulsed through her womb—recognizing its father.
Lara laughed.
"He's excited to see his daddy. Just like his mommy."
Jaquan kissed her lips. Once. Then again.
And before long, warmth unfolded between them.
He held her and told her how much he missed her.
She whispered back—how she missed him too.
Their bodies spoke in breath and rhythm. In longing and rediscovery. In thunder and silence.
And when morning returned, they lay side by side—still fused by something deeper than cultivation.
"So," Lara whispered, "what will we name our baby?"
Jaquan turned to her with a soft smile.
"You haven't picked a name yet?"
"I was waiting on you to decide."
He rested a hand on her belly again, thoughtful.
"Since it's a boy… we'll name him Jared Hewitt."
Lara beamed.
"I love it."
For the rest of that day—and the few that followed—Jaquan and Lara lived in quiet joy. They laughed, rested, and cherished the time they had. Jaquan, with a soft certainty, told her he would marry her once they left the realm. Lara had been stunned, but her answer was simple: yes.
Then, the realm began to fracture.
The glyphs faded from the podium one by one, threads of qi unraveling like whispers from an ancient voice finally silenced. The walls cracked—not violently, but steadily. Pressure leaked into the pocket dimension, and what once felt timeless now echoed with urgency.
Jaquan noticed the tremor first. Then Lara—her fingers tightened around his. Her eyes searched his with quiet dread.
He had warned her this would happen—the realm wouldn't hold once he claimed the inheritance. And though she'd worn a smile these past few days to keep him from worrying, deep down she was nervous. Uncertain of what awaited them beyond the fissure.
Now that the realm had given way, they stepped into the edges of the Rage Forest hand in hand. But Lara's heart felt like it might burst from her chest.
Jaquan sensed her unease. He thought she was anxious about their new life together, so he kissed her and whispered reassurances.
"All is going to be well," he said.
But Lara didn't think so.
And she was right.
Their plan was simple: leave the Reign Continent.
Jaquan hadn't pressed Lara for reasons when she brought it up last night—he only knew she longed to leave, and that was enough. He would take her to meet his family. They'd wed in the Hewitt ancestral hall, surrounded by loyal elders and the wild laughter of children. Jared would be born beneath a thunder-streaked sky, wrapped in love and legend.
That dream lasted all of twenty minutes.
Because the moment they neared the forest's outer edge, the heavens shifted.
Pressure slammed into them—qi so dense it folded the bark of nearby trees and bent light against itself. Lara gripped her belly, and Jaquan moved instinctively, shielding her with his body. But it was futile.
From the mist, a man emerged.
Youthful, yes—but wrong.
His skin was flawless. Hair raven-black. Eyes a cold violet touched by cruelty. But beneath that appearance was something ancient. Something monstrous.
Imperial Realm.
Jaquan's heart clenched.
This wasn't just a scout. This was a walking calamity.
The man's gaze didn't flicker. His violet eyes fixed directly on Lara.
Lara's blood ran cold.
Thomas.
Her escort.
He hadn't aged. His spirit was exactly as she remembered—rigid, emotionless, and bound by duty. A hunter disguised as a guardian.
She wondered how he found her—she'd worn a spirit tool that should've rendered his imprint inactive.
But what she didn't know was that her bloodline, an invisible tracking formation, was placed on her at birth. It could be used to track her whereabouts. That's how he found her.
Jaquan could see that this man—whoever he was—terrified his wife. And he wouldn't stand by and let any harm come to her, no matter how strong the foe before him was. He'd rather die.
"I'm not going back," Lara said firmly.
Thomas didn't flinch. "You don't have a choice, princess."
Jaquan stepped forward. "She does. She's not yours."
Thomas turned to him, eyes sweeping over the thunder marks on Jaquan's skin.
"You're the one who defiled her. I see."
Jaquan's eyes narrowed. His fingers curled. "She's not defiled. She's loved."
But Thomas didn't respond. He raised a hand, and ice qi exploded from his palm—locking the entire forest into a chokehold. Jaquan could barely breathe. Lara staggered, falling to one knee.
So Jaquan did the only thing he could.
He activated the Ten Thunder Techniques—they surged as one. Then the tenth and final form of the Dominant Celestial Thunder Technique, Divine Surge, cascaded through his bones. Lightning blared across the forest canopy, shattering trees and carving bolts through the sky like blades of wrath.
The storm came.
Pressure rippled outward—a wave of brilliance and fury, overwhelming even beasts slumbering kilometers away.
Thomas didn't move.
Not even a step.
He let Jaquan burn the forest.
Then blurred forward.
Jaquan didn't even see the blow—he only felt his lungs collapse as his body flung sideways, ribs snapping on impact. His vision spun. Lightning blinked out.
He couldn't move.
Lara screamed.
She ran to him, kneeling beside his broken form.
"Don't hurt him, Thomas! Please!"
Thomas's face twisted. "You know that a relation outside the royal family that is not approved is a crime punishable by death."
Lara tried to stand, but Thomas reached her in less than a breath, placing a hand on her shoulder—not harsh, but final.
"I'll take you two to the palace for judgement."
"I'm not—going—back!" She screamed, unleashing one of her strongest ice attacks, but it did nothing.
Thomas's eyes gleamed faintly. "You have no say."
And then darkness took them both.
_____
And this is how Jaquan awoke in a prison unlike any he'd seen.
Metal walls were fused with floating formations—cold symbols that spun through the air like silver restraints. The entire room was shaped like a cube, with rotating sigils at each corner, draining qi at a steady pace.
He sat up slowly.
Pain clung to every bone.
His ribs were bound by a spirit wrap, barely holding together. His shoulder dislocated. His core fractured from the Divine Surge backlash.
But none of that mattered.
Because Lara wasn't there.
He shouted. No answer.
He punched the wall. Nothing shifted.
Jaquan collapsed against the cold floor.
And for the first time since entering the Rage Forest—
He felt helpless.
Not just as a cultivator, but as a man. As a father.
She was out there. Alone. Possibly in chains.
And he was here—too broken to fight, too injured to escape.
But even in the silence…
His thunder stirred.
He wasn't done.
Not for her. Not for Jared.
Not yet.