Magic faltered across the realm.
Spells fizzled. Creatures vanished. Ley lines collapsed.
The world was unraveling faster than we could stop it.
The Conclave began evacuating cities. But we stayed.
We reinforced the Academy with runes older than the Codex. Yuria began training non-mages. Valmira mapped alternate power sources. Seraphina unlocked the ice core beneath the northern cliffs. Astraea returned with more frostborn warriors.
And Lilith... sat beside me every night in silence.
"Are you scared?" I asked once.
She looked up at the sky. "Terrified. But not of dying."
"Of what, then?"
"Of forgetting what it meant to live."