Aurelia woke up screaming.
Not from pain from separation.
Stone pressed against her back. Cold, ancient, humming with a power that felt older than language. The underground chamber was vast and cathedral-like, its ceiling lost in darkness. Veins of violet light pulsed through the walls like a heartbeat, slow and deliberate.
She tried to sit up.
Her body obeyed barely.
Every movement felt like pulling herself through broken glass. Her power was still there, coiled tightly inside her, but restrained… watched.
“You fell far,” a voice said.
Aurelia froze.
The voice didn’t echo. It didn’t come from one direction. It vibrated through the stone, through her bones.
“Who’s there?” she demanded.
Silence.
Then the light shifted.
From the far end of the chamber, a figure stepped forward
