Darkness pressed against her like a cold second skin.
She wasn't unconscious, just suspended, trapped in something so thick it muffled even her heartbeat. She couldn't move her arms. Could barely breathe. The crystal held her like a coffin made of heavy glass.
'Someone… please…' Her fingers twitched helplessly. 'Don't let me disappear.'
A faint hum vibrated through her bones.
Then—
A sound. Distant. Thunderous.
BOOM.
Her heart skipped. That was—Zann? No. Leonel?
She couldn't tell. But something familiar pulsed against her prison, a heat she recognized instantly.
Another explosion of force cracked the darkness with white light.
Voices—faded, blurry, but real—hit her ears.
"—REA—NA—!"
Her lungs tightened. 'They found me.'
A second crack. The crystal trembled, lines spiderwebbing across her field of vision. Light seeped in.
'Please… I can't… I don't want to die here…'
She closed her eyes, feeling tears float upward in the weightless dark.
'Someone… anyone—'
