Smoke and ash clung to my skin, my lungs burning with every ragged breath as I stumbled down the hidden passage. My body screamed for rest, but I couldn't stop-not now. Not when everything I had ever known was being reduced to embers above me.
Each step forward felt heavier than the last, the weight of my exhaustion pressing down on me, but I forced myself to move. The passage was damp and narrow, the air thick with the scent of earth and decay. My hands scraped against the cold stone walls as I staggered forward, my knees nearly buckling beneath me.
I didn't know how long I had been running when I finally emerged into the open. The night air hit me like a slap, crisp and biting against my overheated skin. A secluded clearing stretched out before me, bathed in the dim glow of the moon.
