Shadows…
Darkness…
That was all I saw as I bled out onto the forest floor, fading in and out of consciousness. My vision blurred, but when I forced my eyes open, I glimpsed a toweringfigure above me—a Mare.
A being whose power far exceeded my comprehension. A creation from Mournis himself.
But I… was his creation too.
It all happened so fast. A truth I was never meant to relive. A betrayal I was never meant to commit.
And because of what I had seen—I fled.
But it was too late.
Shouts rang through the air, directed at me, but the deafening static in my ears swallowed their meaning. I opened my eyes again.
My companion.
Why is she here?
She shouldn't be here.
Whitehair whipped around her face as she ran toward me, tears spilling freely as she desperately reached for my pale, bloodied body.
She didn't know what was happening. How could she? A Mare, towering over me, a divinebeing whose presence could make an entirecity slump to the floor.
Would she even believe me if I had the chance to tell her why this was happening?
A choked cough ripped through my chest as unconsciousness pulled me under.
Oh… this feeling.
It was the shadows.
But they weren't just pulling—they were dragging.
I had fought against them all my life. This wasn't my shadow travel ability, where I could move through the dark at will. This was something else entirely. A force that never stopped trying to take me.
And for the first time, I couldn't fight it.
So I stopped trying.
My companion's screamsfaded, as I was helplessly being dragged into the unknown. I felt myself being dragged across every planet in this galaxy, and yet—
I also felt as though I hadn't moved at all.
And it was with that detached surrender, I fell unconscious.
Leaving everything behind.