Third-person POV
Zephyra's eyes fluttered open.
For a moment, she couldn't tell if she was awake or still caught in the haze of something else, something colder and much darker. Her vision was pitch black, no light, no shadows. Absolutely nothing but a thick and suffocating darkness from every side.
She blinked once, then twice, but nothing changed, and panic swelled fast in her chest.
Her breath hitched, and instinctively, she tried to raise a hand to her face, to rub her eyes, and to make sure she'd really opened them, but her arms felt like dead weight, heavy and foreign, and her limbs wouldn't respond, not even a twitch.
Her heart began to race.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
She forced herself to take a breath, slow and deep, even though her throat felt tight, like it was being squeezed shut.
'Close your eyes, and try again,' she told herself. Maybe she was still asleep. Maybe this was just a weird leftover sensation from… from what?
