Chapter 56
Ariana woke into silence, but it was not the kind that felt calm or empty. This silence pressed against her ears and her chest, heavy and wrong, like the world itself had stopped breathing. For a moment, she did not move or open her eyes, because something inside her already understood that this was not the same place. When she finally inhaled, the air felt colder than it should have been, stripped of anything familiar. There was no scent of earth, no trace of life, and no presence she could recognize. When her eyes opened, she was met with darkness, but not complete darkness. It shifted faintly, like something alive, and that alone made her chest tighten.
