Tian did not sleep.
The others had returned to their bunks, but he stayed outside near the southern training field, where the storm dust still lingered and the wind hadn't yet cleared the air.
The tower lights flickered. Guards moved slower than usual. No one spoke to him.
Not even Rohen.
His boots scraped through the old ash lining the edges of the silent yard. His body ached, but something in him was wide awake. Not burning. Not alive. Just aware.
The spiral in his spine pulsed once.
Then faded.
He stopped near the half-buried target stones. The ground there was broken and dry, no longer used. He dropped his bag. Sat down. Closed his eyes.
The memory returned.
Not of the fight. Just the moment before it. When the trench creature stared at him without speaking, and something in Tian's chest moved. A quiet shift. A question that carried no words.
Who are you?
He had not answered then.
He didn't now.
