The world reformed like breath turning to frost.
I gasped, my lungs dragging in air that wasn’t air. Above, the sky was divided into two layers: one of unending darkness and one of silver flame. Pieces of what I knew hung between them: the wolves frozen in mid-howl, the courtyard stones, and the c***k in the Cradle. However, they weren't real. They were echoes.
And she was standing in the center of it, barefoot on a backward-moving river.
The reflection.
No, not quite. She now had a human appearance. My age. My skin. My heartbeat. She seemed to have been waiting for me for centuries, her smile was patient and quiet.
“You made it," she said plainly. "I was beginning to think that you would never stop fighting."
I swallowed, forcing my voice out. “Where am I?”
Her gaze swept the horiz
