Darkness swallowed me whole, pulling me into a void so deep it felt like drowning. My senses dulled, and for a moment, I couldn’t feel anything—the pain, the fear, or even the bond with Kieran that had always lingered in the back of my mind. But as the seconds stretched into what felt like an eternity, something began to shift. A faint pulse throbbed at the edges of my awareness, growing louder with each beat, like the drums of war calling me back to reality.
I gasped, my eyes snapping open, and I was greeted by a burst of searing light. The world around me came into focus in fragments—Kieran’s frantic face hovering above me, the familiar stone walls of the den, and the flickering torches casting frantic shadows. The scent of blood and smoke hung heavy in the air, mingling with Kieran’s s
