A deafening silence followed.
Then, a heartbeat.
Not mine.
I drifted in the void, weightless, suspended in something vast and ancient. The fire inside me had dimmed, but it hadn’t gone out. It pulsed sluggishly, like embers buried beneath the ashes.
A whisper curled through the darkness.
Wake up.
My breath hitched. The voice was not my mother’s. It was deeper, older, woven with something vast and unfathomable.
You are not done yet.
The darkness cracked.
Agony slammed into me.
I gasped, my body convulsing as reality snapped back into place. The scent of burned flesh and smoldering ruins choked the air. My vision blurred, pain radiating from the wound in my chest.
Lena’s voice reached me first. “Elias—Elias, stay with me—” Her hands pressed against my chest, warm and trembling. Bl
