Aurora's POV
Taken, Not Broken:
Pain was the first thing I felt.
Not sharp, not sudden—dull, insistent, spreading through my skull like wildfire. My body ached as if it had been dropped from a height, then ignored.
My throat was dry, too dry as the taste of metal and chemicals coating my tongue. For a long moment, I couldn’t remember where I was, or even who I was.
Then, as clarity crept back slowly, the chains rattling above me reminded me.
I opened my eyes. Concrete. Cold, cracked, stained with shadows that seemed to move on their own. The ceiling arched high above, a single bulb swinging slightly, casting uneven light across the abandoned warehouse.
Dust floated in the air, catching the dim illumination and making everything seem unreal—like a nightmare I couldn’t wake from.
