Heat. Immediate. Overwhelming.
It started in his chest, a point of searing warmth just below his sternum. Then it spread. Inward. The heat burrowed deep, threading through muscle and bone, wrapping around his spine, his ribs, his pelvis.
Kael gasped. His body arched in the chair—but the sensation was electric, overwhelming.
Like every cell in his body was waking up. Like he'd been half-asleep his entire life and only now opened his eyes.
But it was presence, It was presence—pure, overwhelming presence. Something vast settling into him, claiming space, rewriting pathways.
His breathing changed. Slower. Deeper. His diaphragm expanded, pulling air down into his lower abdomen. The heat followed, pooling in his core. He felt his Qi—his internal energy—begin to move. Smoothly. It rose along his spine, vertebra by vertebra, until it reached the base of his skull. Then it descended along his front, down his sternum, back to the core.
A circuit. Complete. Stable. Self-sustaining.
