***Nova***
I stirred awake, a heavy sensation weighing me down. My entire body was sore, each muscle aching as if I'd been trampled by a herd of stampeding horses. As my eyes fluttered open, I was greeted by a dazzling yet harsh beam of light. It took a moment for my surroundings to come into focus—familiar and yet foreign—my room where I had always felt safe, now felt like a cage.
The events from the challenge flooded back to me in vivid nightmares: the looming bear, teeth bared, and my desperate fight for survival. I shivered at the memory of pain coursing through my body, a sharp contrast to the calm that enveloped me now. I touched my abdomen gingerly, where the bear had clawed me, and was astonished to find my skin smooth and healed. Even the ache in my limbs had dulled significantl
