Chapter 5
Chapter 5: The Taste of Smoke
Harold's veiling technique improves under Eldrin's urgent tutelage as the ancient guide reveals the approaching entity is an ancient predator drawn to reignited souls. Eldrin teaches Harold a new technique called 'speaking fire'—shaping flames with intent rather than concealment. Harold produces his first directed flame, a significant breakthrough. Meanwhile, Anya crosses paths with Valerius in the restricted section, where he attempts to dismiss her research; she holds her ground and notices his unease. The Imperial Survey team arrives early and begins measurements at the cliff. The chapter ends with Harold sensing the entity pressing against the pocket dimension's boundary for the first time, confirming Eldrin's warning that it has found them.
Harold had grown intimately familiar with failure. He'd been married to it, in his previous life—wedded to disappointment in a ceremony nobody attended because nobody cared enough to RSVP. So when his ninety-second veiling attempt collapsed at forty-three seconds, he didn't flinch. He simply started again.
That was new.
The old Harold would have spiraled. Would have found the nearest mental cliff to throw himself off of, metaphorically speaking, since he'd already used up the literal one. But reincarnation, it turned out, came with a certain emotional resilience. Like a reset button for despair. Not that the despair was gone—it had just been filed somewhere more manageable, in a drawer he didn't open as often.
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