Zylia’s POV
I woke up to cold air brushing against my skin.
The ground beneath me wasn’t earth , it was soft, almost like ash.
When I tried to move, it shifted under my palms, clinging to my fingers like smoke.
For a moment, I didn’t know where I was.
The forest I’d been walking through was gone.
Everything was white and gray , fog curling and folding around me like it had a mind of its own.
I pushed myself up slowly.
My head throbbed.
My chest felt hollow.
Something inside me… wasn’t right.
It wasn’t pain exactly , more like absence.
The pull I used to feel from Howlborne, the bond that hummed through my blood, was faint now.
Weak.
It felt like my heart had forgotten a rhythm it once knew by instinct.
I tried to take a breath, but even the air felt heavy here.
Thick with w
