Chapter 74 - Chapter 74 – The Cage Is No Longer Closed

When they stepped beyond the fences, the forest air struck their faces cold and hard, but the chill was not comforting for any of them. The smoke rising behind them carried more than the scent of burning metal, exploding systems, and collapsing layers of magic. Everything they had been forced to leave behind was inside that smoke. Adrian's gaze, the dark guardians of the facility, the unfinished experiments, the blood on Elara's wrist, and the silent weight of something that had changed too much to ever return. All three of them felt it, yet none of them spoke for the first few seconds. Because sometimes escape did not feel like salvation, but only like reaching the next battlefield.