Lila
The fall doesn’t end.
It slows.
The silver light coils tighter around us, compressing the space until my lungs burn, until my thoughts blur into sensation—cold, weightlessness, Damien’s grip the only solid thing left in the world.
Then the pressure releases all at once.
I hit the ground hard enough to drive the breath from my chest, pain radiating up my spine as stone scrapes against my palms. For a split second, everything goes dark.
Not unconscious.
Just… quiet.
When sound rushes back, it’s different. Thicker. As if the air itself is holding its breath.
“Lila.”
Damien’s voice cuts through first—low, sharp with urgency.
I force my eyes open.
The sky above us isn’t a sky at all. No clouds. No moon. Just a vast dome of stone arching overhead, etched with symbols that glow f
