I saw a ring, wide and silver and alive, stretched like woven light. It shimmered, glowed, and buckled. It didn’t snap or shatter, only bent.
Warped inward like a pressed loop, like it had given way to pressure andlet something in.
And because I stood at the edge, because I was between, I followed the bend.
Forward.
Further.
And then…
I saw something.
Not clearly. Not with names or faces.
But withtruth.
The air around me changed again into a colder and thinner blanket. My heartbeat kicked up, with fast and urgent pulses.
What I saw wasn’t a memory.
It was a future.
Notthefuture, but a version.
And it was—
My eyes flew open with a gasp.
I staggered back two steps, my hand clutching a branch that suddenly felt sharp, too real, too solid. The ground spun. My breath came fast.
I was back.
The sky above me looked the same.
The moss still glowed. The air still shimmered.
Buteverythingwas different now.
Because I’d seen something no one was meant to see yet.
And I had no idea if I’d been alone in seeing it.
Or if someone else had seen it too.
The ache in my hip hadn't subsided.
It sat under the butterfly mark like a warning, not sharp, but deep. A flick of chill that didn't soothe so much as say,pay attention.
The vision lingered in the corners of my mind, like a candle just blown out where smoke still rose.
I wanted to shake it loose and call it just a ripple, a trick of Hedge magic.
But I knew better.
I hadn’timaginedthe bent circle.
I hadn’timaginedthe dark thread coiling through the Academy like smoke looking for a match.
