Chapter 78: The Spark of Resolve
The Sanctum’s training yard were filled with tamers that were going through their training, Kelvin stood at the yard’s edge, his staff was planted firmly in the packed dirt, its rune-etched surface was warm under his grip.
Sweat was seen on his brow, tracing paths down his temples as he watched the younger tamers train with their beasts, their movements were raw but eager.
The faint scars on his left arm were pale reminders of the Shadowfen Marshes’ zombie claws, itched faintly, but it was the memory of the grove’s wraiths that burned freshest in his mind.
Those spectral figures, with their glowing eyes and despairing whispers, had been a stark warning: the Veil was stirring was its hunger far from sated.
Xerion, his End-Tyrant beast paced beside him, the beast’s fiery scale were flared with it’s restless energy, as if it was sensing the unease that churned in Kelvin’s chest.
"We will be ready," he murmured, more to himself than the beast. His bond with Xerion, now at an 80% sync ratio, was a blazing anchor, but the rift’s whispers still echoed in his dreams which is sowing the seed of doubt.
Lyra approached, her braid was swinging with each purposeful step she took with her gauntlet gleaming with freshly etched shadow runes that pulsed faintly in the sunlight.
Lyra’s green eyes were sharp as ever, softened slightly as they met Kelvin’s. "You look like you are planning a war," she said, her tone was light but laced with a knowing edge.
"Maybe I am," Kelvin replied, though his voice was low. He gestured toward the bustling yard, where a young tamer’s windfox darted around a training dummy and its claws sparked against the wood. "That rift in the grove, it is just the start. The Veil is not done with us, Lyra and I can feel it."
She nodded and replied. "I felt it too, when we closed the anchor. The energy... it wasn’t gone, it just pushed back. We need to be sharper and stronger."
Darius’s heavy footsteps announced his arrival before his voice did. "What is with the doom and gloom?" he called, striding over with his usual swagger, though his hazel eyes held a new seriousness beneath the grin.