"Ugh… Ephera… Stay—No!!"
My voice turned hoarse as I jerked upright, hand flailing into the empty air. My fingers reached out instinctively—grasping at a presence that was no longer there, and maybe never was.
My chest heaved as I sucked in gulps of air, my skin drenched in sweat and clinging uncomfortably to my clothes. The heat radiating off my body was unnatural, like I'd just run a marathon straight out of hell.
"What… what the hell was that…" I whispered to no one, blinking rapidly as the remnants of a dream I couldn't quite grasp faded into the back of my mind.
A dream? No—it was more than that.
It had felt real. Too real.
A memory, maybe?
But it wasn't one I recognized. Or maybe… maybe I'd just forgotten it.
I looked down at my hand, still trembling faintly in front of me. I could almost feel her fingers wrapped in mine—slender, warm, comforting.
"Ephera…"
