“I will.”
We pulled apart, and I moved to Grandmother next. “Be vigilant, my child.”
“Don’t worry about me.”
“I always worry about you.” She pulled me to her and planted a kiss on my forehead.
It was Emabelle’s turn next. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she stepped closer to me.
I hugged her, all feeling aside.
“Oh, Elariya.” She hugged me tighter.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be safe.”
“You better be.”
We pulled apart, and I allowed myself one last look at my family before I walked over to Arielle and Bastian.
“Ready?” Arielle asked.
“I am.” I nodded once.
“La lune encantaer, li la lune da mier,” she chanted.
Ripples of light floated across from the window then crept up my body from the soles of my feet. The light wove itself into golden threads that wrapped around me in a cocoon.
Up and up and up it went.
I found the faces of my family but focused on my mother until the threads of light stole her from my vision.
Light enveloped me, forcing me to close my eyes, then I slipped away, drifting into darkness.
Into a deep, deep, deep sleep.
Chapter 8
Elariya
“Where Time Fractures”
Idrifted through an endless expanse of gray. Neither light nor dark but something caught between worlds, suspended in the liminal space where reality frayed at its edges.
My feet touched nothing solid, yet I moved forward with purpose, pulled by invisible currents that whispered secrets I couldn't quite grasp. The air was thick as honey, viscous and oppressive, clinging to my skin with phantom fingers that traced patterns I didn't recognize.
Each step forward—if they could be called steps at all—felt both weightless and heavy, as though I was moving through a liquid dream.
Dream?
No. This wasn’t a dream.
I was here again.
At that… place of grayness that stretched infinitely in all directions, a colorless void that seemed to pulse with its own heartbeat. Or perhaps that was mine, echoing strangely in this place where sound had no meaning.
Something lurked at the edges of my consciousness, a presence that watched from the void with ageless patience. Icould feel its attention like a cold breath on the back of my neck, calculating and hungry. It didn't move closer, didn't reveal itself. It just observed with the stillness of a predator that knew its prey had nowhere to run.
It was the sensation of being studied, dissected by unseen eyes. My skin crawled like a million spiders marched beneath the surface.
