Third-person POV
The ringing would not stop.
It pressed against Electra's skull like something alive, sharp and relentless. Even in the darkness, she was aware of herself, aware that she was not asleep, not unconscious, and not gone. She existed inside the sound, trapped in it, waiting for something to shift.
Then it did. The ringing did not disappear, but it lowered just enough for something else to take form.
A glowing light.
At first, it was faint, barely noticeable in the endless black, but then it grew and started to spread outward in slow waves of light. Fire suddenly came into existence, controlled and contained, forming a circle that highlighted only a single figure.
A man stood within it.
He was tall and composed, his posture straight without effort. Long white hair fell over his shoulders in smooth strands, catching the firelight, but the flames did not burn him. Instead they moved around him like they belonged there, as if they answered to him.
