Lyla didn’t hit the ground.
There was no ground to hit.
She was falling through nothing, through a void that wasn’t air, wasn’t darkness, wasn’t anything.
The battle had disappeared.
The whispers had vanished.
Only one thing remained.
Her mother’s voice, cold and merciless, ringing in her mind
"You are not supposed to be here."
Lyla clenched her teeth, twisting midair, fighting the sensation of weightlessness.
She had fallen before.
Had been dragged into nightmares, into visions, into places she was never meant to go.
But this
This was different.
This was a prison.
A test.
And she refused to fail.
Not now.
Not when she had seen her mother alive.
Not when she finally had something real to hold on to.
She forced her claws out, reaching, grabbing at the void itself
And sud
