Elaria’s POV
The first thing I felt was cold.
Not the soft, gentle cold of fresh snow or the clean chill of mountain air, but the metallic, creeping cold of something unraveling inside me.
Like frost crawling over warm skin.
Like bones cracking under weight that was never meant to be carried.
I tried to open my eyes but failed.
Something heavy was pressing down on me, inside me. It's not something I can physically feel, no. It pulsed and burned beneath my skin like a second heart out of rhythm with my own. My breath came in short, shallow gasps.
You’re not ready, the pressure whispered. But the world is forcing you to be.
My body felt distant, like I was watching it from far away. But a sound came clearer. Sounds like hushed voices, a chair scraping the ground, and then. . footstep
