Killian’s POV
The cold was the first thing I felt.
It wasn’t the kind that bit at the skin—it sank deeper, curling around my bones like chains. I couldn’t tell where the pain ended and the darkness began. The only sound was my heartbeat, slow and uneven, echoing in the emptiness around me.
When I finally opened my eyes, I realized I was no longer in the ruins or the clearing where I’d fallen. The place around me was… wrong. The air shimmered, dark and heavy, as though even light was afraid to linger here.
Stone walls stretched endlessly, carved with sigils that pulsed faintly with silver and black light. Shadows slithered along the ground, moving like liquid, whispering in voices I couldn’t understand.
My wrists burned. I glanced down—iron cuffs bound me, glowing faintly blue. They we
