**SAGE POV**
The world came back in pieces.
My first breath tasted of smoke and dust. My ears rang. For a long moment, I couldn’t move. The ceiling had caved in, and heavy chunks of stone pressed against my legs. The air was filled with the scent of burnt metal and blood. Somewhere nearby, water dripped in slow, steady beats.
I blinked against the haze, trying to remember what happened. The relic. The vault. Jesse. The explosion…
Then it hit me like a wave. He’d opened the Door.
“Jesse!” I tried to call, but my throat was raw, my voice barely a whisper.
Pain radiated through my body as I shifted, pushing the rubble away with trembling hands. My fingers burned when they touched the stones…they were still warm. The mark on my wrist pulsed in time with my heartbeat, sharp and urgent, as
