|Theodore|
The first light of morning spilled gently over the tree line, casting a soft, golden hue across the forest’s edge. It filtered through the towering windows of the great hall like something sacred—quiet, reverent, almost hesitant to disturb the stillness that had settled over us. Sunbeams lanced through the dusty air, catching on particles that floated lazily like ash in water, turning the entire room into a place suspended between the past and whatever came next.
It was that kind of silence that only comes after something unspoken yet irreversible—a hush that followed not destruction, but transformation.
Carmella sat at the far end of the long wooden bench, cloaked in a thick, earth-toned wool shawl that fell gracefully around her shoulders. She looked as though she hadn’t mo
