~AMARIS
The darkness wasn’t a peaceful void; it was a heavy, suffocating sea of distorted sound. For what felt like an eternity, fractured echo lines swirled through the emptiness of my unconscious mind, pulling me in separate, chaotic directions. I could hear frantic, high-velocity shouting…voices muffled as if traveling through thick layers of glass, vibrating with a raw panic that didn't make any sense to my faded senses.
“Ama! Wake up! Please, goddess, breathe, Ama…”
“Move back, Princess! Clear the entryway right now!”
A heavy, rhythmic rattling behind my ribs gradually grounded my mind back to the physical world. The sharp, bitter sting of medicinal vapor forced its way down my throat, coating my parched tongue and forcing my lungs to contract in a sudden, desperate gasp. I blinke
