The world returned in fragments.
Cold first.
A deep, ancient cold that felt older than time, seeping into Aurelia’s bones.
Then sound not voices, not wind, but a low hum, like the air itself was alive.
Then light pale blue, shimmering in every direction, pulsating like the heartbeat of a sleeping god.
Aurelia gasped and bolted upright.
The ground beneath her glowed faintly, smooth like polished stone, yet pulsing beneath her palms like living skin. Strange sigils drifted across it moving, dissolving, reforming in endless loops. The sky above her wasn’t sky at all, but an endless swirl of mist and starlight, bending and folding like a liquid galaxy.
She was alone.
“Kane?” she called, her voice echoing unnaturally, as though the realm was absorbing it.
Silence answered.
Her heart
