Elara’s POV
The world was too loud.
Not with sound.
With everything.
Every movement around me stretched too far, every breath felt too sharp, every heartbeat too heavy inside my chest. It was like my body had opened to something it didn’t know how to contain, something that refused to quiet no matter how hard I tried to hold onto myself.
Kael’s hand tightened around my arm.
“Elara, stay with me.”
His voice cut through the chaos, but it didn’t fully reach me. It echoed instead, like it had to travel through layers of something inside me before I could grasp it. I turned my head toward him, trying to focus, trying to anchor myself to something familiar.
His eyes.
That was what I held onto.
Gold.
Burning.
Real.
But even that felt like it was slipping.
The energy surged again.
S
