Darkness dissolved slowly, peeling back layer by layer, until light seeped into my vision like the first breath after drowning. My eyelids fluttered, heavy and reluctant, and when I finally opened them fully… I froze.
I was standing in a royal corridor.
Long, endless, gleaming.
The walls shimmered with gold filigree that twisted like vines. The chandeliers above glowed with the soft, warm fire of mana-infused crystals. The polished marble reflected every shadow like a pool of water. My breath hitched.
I knew this place.
No—my body knew it.
Everything felt familiar in a way that made my bones ache. As if I had been born here. As if my feet had memorized these patterns since childhood. As if these corridors had once echoed with my laughter and my footsteps.
But there was no laughter now.
Only silence.
A deep, unsettling silence that pressed against my ears until it felt like the walls themselves were whispering.
Run, Aria.
Run.
