KAEL
Two years later.
The harsh fluorescent lights of the Pack Hospital reception burned down on me, illuminating every stain on my clothes. I sat motionless, legs sprawled out in front of me, staring at the polished floor as if it held answers. Blood covered my shirt and hands in streaks that still carried the metallic tang of fresh violence.
My fingers were wrapped so tightly around the necklace that the edges of the pendant dug into my palm. It was warm against my skin, like the only spot of heat in the cold void that had settled in my chest. I clutched it like it was the last tether keeping me from drifting away completely.
Around me, the hospital hummed with urgent chaos. Pack doctors, nurses, and healers rushed in and out of the double doors leading to the operating theaters. Th
