I woke up in a room defined by nothing but blinding white light and a sterile, suffocating silence. My limbs felt like they were made of lead, and every time I tried to draw upon my magic, I was met with a wall of numbing, artificial cold. I tried to shift, to feel the familiar stretch of bone and muscle, but the moment the intent entered my mind, a violent surge of electricity coursed through my nerves, forcing me back into my human form. I looked down to see a heavy collar of silver-chrome locked around my throat, humming with a low-frequency vibration that made my very soul feel hollow.
"Don't fight it, Elara," a voice said from the shadows of the corner. "The more you resist, the more the feedback will erode your neural pathways. It's designed to learn your defiance and use it agains
