ELLIE’S POV
“If there’s more to me… let me find it.”
The words left my lips like a prayer or maybe a challenge. I wasn’t sure anymore. My voice trembled, but the fire in my chest didn’t die. Not this time.
The moon hovered like a silent judge overhead, too pale, too knowing. I stood there, barefoot on cold soil, the wind tugging at the hem of my tunic. My heart was beating like it wanted out.
Then the pain started.
It wasn’t sudden. It crept in bone by bone, muscle by muscle. Like something was waking inside my skin, stretching after years of sleep. My knees buckled. My vision blurred. The breath was knocked from my lungs before I could cry out.
I crumpled to the earth.
My body twisted, but not all the way. Not like I imagined a true shift would feel. Something inside me fought, hal
