The darkness did not end.
It wrapped her in coils, thicker than smoke, heavier than stone. Every second stretched until it felt like a lifetime, each heartbeat slamming inside her chest like it might split her in two.
Aria clawed at the void, but her hands found nothing only the slithering hiss of the mark curling tighter.
Stop struggling, it whispered, calm now, almost tender. You are exhausting yourself. You have always been weak. Let me bear the weight for you.
She clenched her teeth. Her hands trembled, but she would not loosen her grip on herself.
"You don't get to take me," she rasped, though her voice sounded shredded, thinned into a whisper swallowed by black.
The mark pulsed harder. Her veins burned like molten fire. Her skin, it was gone. Her bones gone. All she felt was flame where flesh should be.
