It was
truly Nathan. He was gaunt, bruised, but alive.
Luca was panting, one hand to his throat. Nathan looked between us, breathless.
"I thought you were…" he began, but couldn’t finish.
I didn’t know what to say either. Relief, shock, confusion—it all crashed into me at once.
We stood in the middle of the ruins, three ghosts tangled in the ashes of the past, none of us able to speak.
The air hung heavy with ash and silence.
I stood still for a breath too long, staring at Nathan as if I were still seeing a ghost. The tension between the three of us crackled like static before a storm. Around us, the burnt ruins of the hidden village loomed, charred skeletons of what used to be safety and belonging. The smell of old smoke and scorched memories hit harder than I'd prepared for.
Nath
