Chapter 89

*Kaelen*

Smoke hung in the air like a second sky—dense, choking, laced with the bitter tang of magic and scorched stone. I stood in the middle of the ruins, surrounded by the aftermath of a war we hadn’t been ready for.

The once-imposing walls of the Academy lay in broken heaps, pillars split and scorched black, banners torn to ribbons. Moonlight filtered weakly through the dust, casting pale s