POV: Riley
Sleep took me slowly.
Too slowly.
The moment my mind drifted, the air changed.
The warmth of our chambers vanished, replaced by cold so sharp it burned. I opened my eyes to moonlight—endless, pale, drowning the sky in silver. I stood barefoot on black glass that reflected no stars.
Only me.
And then—
A heartbeat.
Not mine.
It pulsed beneath the ground, slow and powerful, echoing inside my chest like it had been waiting for me.
Thump.
The sound rippled through the void.
My hands flew to my stomach without thinking, panic jolting through me.
“What… is this?” I whispered.
The moon above flickered.
Shadows poured outward like ink in water.
And then I saw him.
A child stood at the center of the darkness, back turned to me. He couldn’t have been more than six or seven
