DRAVEN
He shouldn't be alive!
Darkness loosened its grip on me slowly, like tar peeling off my skin.
My eyelids felt heavy, thick, glued shut by pain. When I finally pried them open, the world that greeted me did not make sense.
A hut.
A small one.
Circular, dimly lit, with walls woven from roots… not wood, roots, alive and faintly glowing, like veins pulsing with light beneath skin.
What…?
My heart lurched into a sprint.
I pushed myself up quickly… and instantly regretted it.
A stabbing pain shot through my ribs, my spine, my arms. It was like every bone in my body remembered being broken.
I collapsed back onto the mat, gasping.
Where am I?
My voice came out hoarse. “Hello?”
The hut swallowed the word.
My chest tightened.
“Hello? Is… Is anyone there?” I tried again, louder
