I drift. Not in the cavern. Not in my body. Somewhere else.
The pain is gone, but something greater lingers, pressing at the edges of my mind.
I feel weightless, untethered, floating in a space that isneither light nor dark—an endless, shifting current pulling me deeper.
Then, a voice. Soft. Distant. Familiar. Like a whisper I’ve heard before.“You are stronger than you know.”
The words ripple through the void—curling like wind. I try to focus. But the space is fluid. Reality won’t shape itself.
Then, a presence. Not a person, not fully. Just a shape in the mist. A figure, blurred, unfinished.
The presence speaks. A woman’s voice. Steady. Knowing.“You will walk a path others fear. But you are not alone.”
She doesn’t walk—she drifts. And I follow.
She leads me through the shifting, colorless void, but I can’t quite see where we are going. Every time I think I glimpse something ahead, something real, the mist thickens, swallowing it whole.
There is something deeply familiar in the way she moves, the way she leads me forward.
A whisper—softer now, but certain.“You are not ready yet. But you will be.”
My pulse skips. I try to ask—who is she? But the words don’t come.
She moves faster. I chase her, but the space around me distorts. My body drags with every step, like moving through water. Like something is pulling me back.
I push harder, try to close the distance—but the moment I reach for her, the space around us trembles. The flickering light in the distance vanishes.
The presence stops. For the first time, I think she’s looking at me.
And then, in a voice that is both a whisper and a command, a truth woven into my very bones,“Wake up, my child.”
The world shatters. A sudden pull—violent, unstoppable.
The voice echoes, layered over itself. One voice, two voices,merging. “Wake up, my child.” But this time—it is Valen’s voice.
I gasp. Jolt upright.
“Amara!”
His voice tears me from the void, slams me back into my body like a crashing wave.
My lungs drag in air, my chest aching like I’ve been drowning.
Warmth surrounds me—strong, steady, unyielding. Arms. Holding me. Anchoring me. My head is cushioned against something firm, solid, safe.
Then the bond beats quietly in time with my heart, pulling me back from the fading edges of the dream, from the whisper of that woman’s voice.
The bond is here. It anchors me to this world. Anchors me tohim.
I blink, the starlit glow of the cavern blurring in and out of focus. My body is sluggish, heavy with exhaustion.
Then, I feel it. A hand wrapped around mine. Warm. Grounding.
Valen.
His grip is gentle but firm, steady as the earth itself. Keeping me here.
I force my gaze up—vision swimming. And there’s Thane.
