[Theo – First POV]
We stayed still for a few more minutes after everything settled.
I pushed myself up slowly, testing my balance, waiting for dizziness that never came. My body felt tired but functional. My head felt… quieter. Too quiet.
"You good?" Kyrene asked, watching me carefully.
"I think so," I replied, though even as I said it, I wasn't completely sure.
Astrae studied my face as if searching for something she could not name. "You collapsed," she murmured. Her voice was steadier now, but there was still weakness beneath it. "Your mind was attacked."
"I remember the sound," I admitted. "After that… it's blurry."
It was more than blurry. It was like someone had taken a knife and sliced away pieces of a picture. I could sense gaps, thin spaces where something should exist.
And behind it all, for no clear reason, I kept seeing a pair of amethyst colored eyes.
Familiar.
Painfully familiar.
