KAEL'S POV
The abyss is endless.
I don't know how long I've been here—hours, days, or centuries. Time doesn't flow here the way it should. It warps, coils, eats at itself until every second feels like eternity, every eternity like an instant.
All I know is pain.
Not the pain of wounds. That I could bear. This is different—this is unmaking. The abyss doesn't break bones, it breaks meaning. It unravels thought, rips memory apart thread by thread until nothing is left but shadow and the echo of screams.
I've fought it. Gods, I've fought. Clawing against the dark, burning what little light I had left, roaring until my throat bled. But the abyss doesn't tire. And me? I'm not sure there's anything left of me but stubbornness.
And her.
The memory of her.
Ayla's voice, Ayla's eyes, Ayla's scent, Ayla's touch.
