{"Beneath the weight of memory and sea, we returned not just as warriors, but as witnesses to the rising dark and the bonds that would defy it."}
THARION POV
The wind shifted before we saw the ship. I felt it first as a pull across my skin, a thrum in my blood. The sea changed its rhythm, curling in tighter around the cove where we stood, as if something ancient stirred just beyond the horizon. Thalassorath, the Abyssal ship, glided through the mist like a dream remembered. Her silvered hull shimmered with runes older than language, sails glowing faintly under moonlight. The sea parted for her, no splash, no protest—only reverence. We stood at the shoreline, the four of us, Fenris beside me, solid and still. Ysara with her arms crossed and her magic wrapped around her like silk. And Ellowen, whose aura still shimmered faintly from the magic she and Ysara had stirred between them. The bond was new, and even now, it pulsed in soft waves between them, quiet but undeniable.
