Chapter 61
Ariana did not know how much time had passed.
There was no sky above her, no light that changed, no sound that marked movement. The space around her remained the same in every direction, a deep and endless dark that felt less like a place and more like something that had forgotten how to be one.
She stood where she had been pulled, her body still, her breathing slow but uneven. At first, she had tried to move. She had tested the ground beneath her feet, expecting it to give way or shift, but it had not. It held her without resistance, as if it no longer needed to restrain her.
That was what unsettled her the most.
Nothing here forced her to stay.
And yet, she could not leave.
The pressure around her was no longer crushing. It did not drag or pull at her the way it had before. Instead, it lingered quietly, like something that had already claimed what it wanted and was now waiting for her to accept it.
Ariana closed her eyes for a moment.
She reached for the bond.
