Garron woke with a sharp breath, his body tensing before his thoughts caught up. For a moment, his vision refused to cooperate, the world reduced to blurred shapes and light that made no sense, his head pounding with a dull, heavy ache that settled behind his eyes. His muscles felt wrong, too stiff, too heavy, like he'd been dragged out of something deep rather than simply knocked unconscious.
He blinked once. Then again.
The shapes didn't go away.
He pushed himself upright too fast, heart hammering as instinct kicked in before reason could, his gaze snapping from one figure to the next as if he had to check them manually to make sure they were real. Elyra. Elena. Selene. Clara. Laziel. All of them standing there, tired, battered, but unmistakably present.
"No," he muttered, shaking his head hard. "No, no… this isn't—"
His eyes landed on Noel.
Garron froze mid-breath, his chest hitching as if his body had forgotten how to continue without permission.
