Thalsoborn.

Something burst through my eyelids in a harsh white flare. As the darkness

thinned, the glare only sharpened. My eyes flew open, greeted by a blur of humming

fluorescent hospital lights. Somewhere in the distance a name was being called..."

Viridian..Viridian."

As it drew closer it became louder. "Viridian! " Was that my name? Everything

started to focus and I was met with marbled sea green eyes staring down at me. The

voice that belong to this stranger was ancient but warm and gentle.

This stranger looked familiar. I couldn't pull in the memories...until there was one starting to form from

the moment our eyes locked. It surged forward, sharp enough to catch my

breath. "Viridian - Hold on!"

The words weren't spoken here. They belonged to some other moment.

Somewhere in the dark. As my hospital room began to dissolve around us. Wind

hissed past my ears, cold and sharp. His arms were locked around my waist, holding

me against him as the universe was trying to rip us apart. His honey brown hair

whipped backwards; the grey streaks becoming flashes of silver in the chaos. Those

same marbled green eyes now frantic refused to let go of mine.

"Ive got you!' He shouted, though the roaring air nearly tore the words away.

Below us, a pulse of green light exploded, swallowing the sky in a violent flare. He

twisted, trying to take the impact. Just as he screamed my name.

The memory tore away.

Gasping, I snapped back to the present; a bright hospital room and a sharp smell of

antiseptics hanging in the air. Those marbled green eyes held the same fear they had in

the memory.

Who are you are? My voice sounded smaller than expected. His expression

cracked with relief, but something was guarded beneath it. "Viv. Its me.. Uncle Don."

He exhaled a sigh of relief; hand running through his hair. "Damn kiddo that fall really

knocked you around huh?' I went to ask him what he was talking about if it matched the flash back but his phone rang, before I got a chance. Glancing down he winced and mouthed "oh. Fuck your aunt Amph

is going to murder me." Uncle Dons fore-head lines deepen with worry. "Hey Amph; yup she just woke up." A pause "No. Okay I'll see you soon."

More questions buzzed through my head. Something about him felt familiar not just

from the memory that ripped through me. Noticing his attire. Maybe that would trigger something? Blue navy suit; the expensive kind. Where his wedding band was sat a dolphin tattoo. The tattoos peeking under the sleeves were waves. They creeped up from under his collar but one stood out on his neck the most. A pitch fork? A fork? I honestly couldn't tell.

It felt like years before a nurse finally walked in. Short, plump, blonde hair twisted into a bun. She took one look at my uncle and blushed, her voice pitching high."Oh

good, she's awake, Mr. Cronid. Let's get her labs started and see when y'all can get out of here.""That won't be necessary," my uncle replied. "We have a family doctor for situations like this. Religious reasons." The nurse began to object; and the temperature shifted. Not colder, not warmer...just different, like the air itself tightened. The door opened without a sound. A woman stepped in assuming this was Aunt Amph due to Don's earlier “I’ll see you soon” and the way she matched him perfectly. Somehow, her presence filled the room before she even spoke. She was breathtaking. Black hair so dark it swallowed the light, yet when she moved, faint

currents of blue and green shimmered through it like deep ocean waves. Her eyes were a bright unnatural blue..too sharp, too aware, like they saw past skin and bone and straight into currents beneath me. Her outfit should've been ordinary, but on her it wasn't: a fitted

dark-green pencil skirt, stockings as black as ink, a silk plum blouse tucked neatly at the

waist. Everything about her seemed deliberate and composed. Everything except her feet.

She had no shoes on. But it wasn't the lack of shoes that stunned me. It was how she

walked, soundless, like the floor softened beneath her steps. A faint scent drifted with

her, not perfume something apart of her, Saltwater. Stormwind. Lightning just before it strikes.

It was ethereal. The nurse froze mid-sentence, eyes wide, as if the atmosphere had

thickened. As if she wasn't supposed to look directly at Amph but couldn't look away.

Aunt Amph didn't even acknowledge her. Her gaze was locked on me; sharp,

assessing, almost reverent and worried at the same time. For a moment, the hum of

hospital machines faded, swallowed by the strange pressure in the room. The nurse

froze, caught between speaking and swallowing her own breath. Amph didn't look at her

didn't need to. Her attention was entirely on me, and the sheer focus in her gaze made

the room feel smaller, quieter, as if everything else stepped back to give her space.

Then her expression softened. "Oh, sweetheart..." Her voice was nothing like I

expected. Not sharp, not commanding warm, low, and threaded with worry so real it tugged at something in my chest. She crossed the room quickly, the

scent of salt and storm following her like a second skin. She cupped my face with gentle

fingers, cool but comforting, like someone pressing a hand to a fevered forehead. Her

thumbs brushed my cheeks, checking, reassuring, steadying. "You scared us," she

murmured, and her voice trembled just enough to make me believe it. "You scared all of

us." Uncle Don stood behind her, shoulders hunched as if he'd been holding his breath

since the moment he walked in. But Amph... Amph looked at me like she'd been living

inside that fear. Her eyes shone not in a dramatic way, but in the quiet, breaking way someone looks at family who nearly slipped away. "You're safe now," she whispered. "I

promise. Nothing's going to happen to you while I'm here." Her hand swept through my dark brown

hair, smoothing it back the way a mother would when trying to soothe a frightened child.

The air relaxed.The hum of machines returned. Even the nurse blinked, as if waking

from a trance. Amph's touch stayed steady, grounding, present, human in the way that

mattered. Yet... deep beneath that warmth, I felt something else. A strength.A warning.