The dunes stretched endlessly before them, a shifting sea of gold under the relentless sun. The silence that followed the sentinel’s destruction felt heavier than the creature’s roar. Each step Elias took felt like he was sinking into the sand, his body weighed down by exhaustion and the lingering presence of the harp’s power.
Joran walked ahead, his gaze fixed on the horizon, his usual confidence tempered by unease. Alina stayed close to Elias, glancing at him every so often as if expecting him to collapse.
“You shouldn’t have been able to do that,” Joran said abruptly, breaking the silence.
Elias looked up, his brow furrowed. “Do what?”
“Control the harp,” Joran replied, slowing his pace to meet Elias’s gaze. “That thing is a force of destruction, not something you can guide. The fact that you managed to use it against the sentinel…” He shook his head. “It shouldn’t have been possible.”