Sasha’s Pov
It began with the wind.
Not a gust. Not a howl. Not even the hush before a storm.
Just stillness.
A suffocating pause that stretched across the world like a held breath. The trees didn’t sway. The leaves didn’t murmur. Even the fire in the hearth dimmed, its flickering tongue suddenly frozen, as if afraid to make a sound.
The stars overhead blinked out one by one, swallowed by a creeping veil of shadow.
And then, the cold.
Not winter’s bite. Not the chill of air or season.
A void.
A cold that came from absence. From something ancient and hollow, dragging its presence across a world that had dared to forget it.
I stood beside Alex at the edge of the village square, breath fogging the air, my heart thudding like a warning drum.
Then the first torch went out.
Then the
