Chapter 61
Ariana did not know how much time had passed. She stood still, forcing her breathing into something steady even though nothing around her changed. There was no sky, no shift in light, no sound that marked time moving forward. The darkness stretched endlessly in every direction, not empty, but wrong in a way she could not fully explain, like something that existed without needing form and had simply chosen to hold her inside it.
She had already tried moving earlier, testing the ground beneath her feet, half expecting it to give way or trap her somehow, but it hadn't. It remained solid, steady, indifferent, as if her presence meant nothing here. That should have made it easier to stay calm. Instead, it made something in her chest tighten, because nothing in this place needed to restrain her for her to understand she wasn't going anywhere.
