White.
Blinding. Endless.
For a moment, Nyxara felt nothing.
No body. No fragments. No threads.
Just existence.
Then everything returned at once.
Sound. Weight. Gravity.
She gasped and collapsed forward, her hands striking solid ground. Real ground. Rough beneath her palms. Cold against her skin.
Air rushed into her lungs, sharp and burning, but alive.
"Nyxara!"
Cassian.
Close. Right beside her.
She turned quickly and froze.
He was whole.
No fractures. No threads. No separation.
Completely intact.
"You're okay," he said, scanning her with sharp urgency.
Nyxara looked down at herself.
Her body had been restored.
Perfectly.
No cracks. No fragmentation. No lingering instability.
And yet
"This isn't real," she whispered.
Cassian let out a quiet breath. "Yeah. I figured."
Because it was too precise.
Too controlled.
Too deliberate.
Nyxara rose slowly to her feet.
