I woke up to darkness.
Complete, unrelenting darkness.
For a moment, terror seized me—had I been buried alive? My fingers clutched frantically at the space around me, seeking confirmation that I wasn't trapped in some coffin beneath the earth.
"Easy, easy." A warm, calloused hand caught mine. "You're safe."
That voice. Deep, resonant, and achingly familiar—it anchored me immediately to reality. Not a coffin then. A bed. And I wasn't alone.
"Where am I?" My voice was a rasp, barely recognizable even to my own ears.
"A small cottage on the outskirts of the Dark Realm," he answered, his thumb stroking soothingly across my knuckles. "Valeria brought us here after the battle."
The battle. Fragments of memory flashed through my mind—the clash of powers, the betrayal, the blinding pain as my magic was ripped from my body. I tried to sit up, only to collapse back against the pillows as weakness overwhelmed me.