[VOLUME 15: THE PRIMORDIAL PILGRIMAGE][ARC 1: THE SHATTERED DARK AND THE FIRST MYTH]
"Then we better start walking."
The words hung in the quiet, ash-choked clearing, brave and absolute. But the moment the glowing stardust of the map dissolved back into the wind, the sheer, crushing weight of the cosmic download slammed into Elara's mortal frame.
Her knees simply ceased to function.
She didn't hit the scorched earth. She rarely hit the ground anymore.
Aldren was there in a fraction of a heartbeat. His massive, leather-clad arm banded around her waist, hauling her flush against his broad chest. He absorbed her weight effortlessly, his other hand coming up to cradle the back of her head, pressing her face into the crook of his neck. He smelled of ozone, dark spices, and the intoxicating, heavy heat of a predator who had just finished a hunt.
