Prologue
Run…
It came as a whisper at first, barely a thought. A kind of beacon drawing her deeper into the dark. Fragments of memories—or something like it—glimpses of scenes she couldn’t place flickered behind her eyes. A lullaby warped by static. Bittersweet laughter. Sharp cries. Cold and slick blood unfurling across her palms.
Then, gone. Her hands, clean. As if the blood had never been there.
Run…
She turned to look and found herself in a meadow. Vast. Empty. Familiar in a way that set her nerves crawling. Too still, too quiet. At least it was until the abyss sang shrill and distant—a cacophony of cries stitched into the void. She felt it. Their sorrow. Its fury. The way guilt curled in her stomach—as if their pain was hers to carry.
Run…
She turned—
—and the world had ignited.
Crimson and cobalt flames had erupted around her, swallowing everything in their path. Her feet should’ve burned. Her skin should’ve blistered. It didn’t. The fire that consumed everything else only stared back at her. No—something was watching her through the dancing flames. Eyes without form. A presence calling upon her. Mesmerized by the embers swirling in the air like fireflies, she reached out. One landed on her palm, glowed blue and white. It flickered. It flared. But the fire she held was…cold?
The inferno blinked out—replaced in a second by the cold so sharp it cleaved through her skin. It settled in her bones until her knees gave out. Thin air hit like sharp needles. Every breath was torment.
The voices swarmed through the ominous thick veil of fog, shrouding the earth from every corner. They clawed at her ears—rage, grief, pain. One sliced through them all, a voice she knew. Not by name. Not by face. By the ache it gripped at her heart. She reached to wipe her tears, but her fingers found blood instead.
Run…
She tried. She wanted to. Desperately so. But the world unravelled beneath her feet—collapsing faster than her thoughts—until all she could do was fall. Bloodshot red consumed her sight as she fell deeper into the unknown. The wind roared past her ears. Panic drowned her as the air escaped her lungs. She frantically grasped for something—for a hand, a reason, anything to hold on to. There was only the fall, the darkness, and inevitable death.
Until—
A shadow, inexplicably warm, wrapped around her like a cocoon. It claimed her and yanked her deeper, faster. She jolted awake—fighting for air after nearly drowning to death. It felt like it. Her eyes glazed, mind reeling, heart pounding against her ribs like it wanted out. The world still spun, and the high-pitched ringing had occupied her head.
“Are you okay?”
That voice shattered through it all—and there he was. Her dark eyes found focus in the amber eyes staring at her. His face close, hands gripped tightly on her shoulders. His presence grounded her in the present—an anchor to her chaos—reassuring her she’s awake.
Safe.
For a moment, she wanted to believe the relief. His warmth. The calmness that his gaze carried. But reality crept in—she didn’t know him. Not really. Not any more than she knew herself. She reached in for a name—any name—but only a question echoed back.
Who am I?
