Darkness lingered in the corners of the chamber, the kind that seeped deeper than night, heavy and suffocating. Arin stirred against the mattress, the sedative Vale had ordered finally loosening its grip. Her lashes trembled before her eyes opened, hazy with a dull, lingering fog. The flicker of torchlight painted the walls in restless shapes, and for a moment, she wasn't certain if she was awake or still caught in the dreamscape.
Her body felt leaden, as though every bone resisted movement, but her mind was racing. Somewhere in the fog of her rest, she had been chased, no, hunted by something cloaked in shadow. A figure with burning eyes. She tried to push the memory away, but it clung stubbornly, like ash after a fire.
