POV: Nixie
Darkness swallowed me whole.
Not the soft kind that comes with sleep.
Not the peaceful kind that cradles you.
This darkness was heavy-thick-like drowning in ink.
My only anchor to reality was my own heartbeat, thumping wildly in my ears as consciousness flickered in and out.
Then
A breath.
Cold.
Sharp.
Like winter seeping into my lungs.
And with it, a voice.
Low. Resonant. Steady.
"Stay with me."
The darkness cracked open.
Light-violet and swirling-pulled at the edges of my vision. I forced my eyes open, the world swimming back into focus. The forest was still around us, but everything was tinged with a strange, purple glow, the air shimmering like heat waves.
I was lying on the ground.
He was kneeling beside me.
The stranger from the shadows.
He who stepped o
