The rain had eased to a drizzle, no longer a hammering storm but still enough to slick the ground in mud and weigh his cloak down.
Noah pushed himself upright, his body aching, and began the long walk back towards the academy.
Each step squelched in the sodden earth. His muscles burned from the fight with the Void Tortoise, but he forced them on, one after another.
Before long, the glow of the academy towers was a faint smear through the trees.
He wanted nothing more than to collapse into his bed and sleep for days. But the world wasn't that kind.
A familiar smear of orange flickered in the distance. Fire.
Noah's jaw clenched as he ducked behind a tree.
He saw them through the thinning curtain of rain. Two groups of guards, torches held high, and their cloaks plastered to their armor by the rain.
Their boots churned the mud as they advanced from opposite directions, clearly converging on the very ground he'd left scorched and ruined by the Pillar of Judgement.
