Aurelia woke to silence.
Not the peaceful kind the kind that felt wrong, stretched too thin, like the world was holding its breath.
Stone pressed cold against her back. The air tasted old, ancient, layered with memories that were not hers. Above her, the cavern ceiling curved upward in a vast dome, etched with fractured runes that glowed faintly, pulsing in time with her heartbeat.
She inhaled sharply and sat up.
Pain followed instantly not sharp, not blinding, but deep. The kind that lived in bones and memory. Her body felt heavier than before, as if something inside her had settled into place and refused to leave.
She lifted her hands.
They were normal.
Too normal.
No shadows curled around her fingers. No void-light shimmered beneath her skin. The violent instability that had to
