I woke up inside the chains. Not in any chamber. There was nothing like a floor or sky or even a body. Just this endless void full of burning links that stretched out everywhere. Kind of like a spider's web made by some god of iron and fire. Each link pulsed with memories. Whispers. Screams. Some of them were mine. Others weren't mine at all.
For the first time I really saw what they were. Not just restraints. Not just gifts. They were pieces. Fragments from people who came before me. Folks who wore this burden until it ate them up. Their lives got threaded into the metal. Their failures showed in the glow.
Now I was another link in there.
"Vivian."
The voice started soft. Like breath in the dark. It was Wren's voice. But not exactly. I turned around. There he was. Standing barefoot in
