DOVE
The guards' mocking laughter faded into the distance as the darkness closed in around me. My consciousness slipped away, leaving behind the echoes of the battle and Thorn's urgent voice. I was consumed by an abyss, disconnected from time and place. In that suspended state, thoughts and memories swirled in a chaotic dance, fragments of the past and the present merging into an indistinct blur.
When my awareness returned, it was little by little, like emerging from a deep slumber. My senses slowly reawakened, the world around me gradually taking shape. I was no longer in the midst of battle or surrounded by the guards. Instead, I found myself in a dimly lit chamber, lying on a cold, hard surface.
My head throbbed, my body ached, and the realization hit me like a tidal wave – I was a c
