Mia Heather POV
I stood at the center of a circle carved into stone, its edges too smoothly carved to be natural. The ground beneath my feet was pale, bleached of color, as though something vital had been drained from it long ago. There was no wind or sound that even my breath felt borrowed.
The circle pulsed once... Then again.
Each time it did, the world beyond it blurred, stretched thin like wet ink dragged across parchment. Shapes flickered at the edges of my vision; pillars, arches, something tall and watching, but whenever I tried to focus, the space hollowed out instead.
Then I saw it drawn out in blood on the walls "The hollow circle."
The realization of the words settled into me with a quiet dread that made my chest ache. Not that I knew what it meant, yet somehow, my body re
