Sera's Pov
The pain was immediate—sharp, icy, paralyzing.
I screamed before I even knew what hit me, the sound ripped from my throat as Velka's shadow tendril tore into my side. It wasn't deep enough to kill me outright, but it didn't need to be. It was laced with her darkness, her venomous magic, and it slithered through my nerves like wildfire. My knees buckled and I collapsed hard against the ground, the breath torn from my lungs.
My vision blurred. I coughed, the taste of iron rising in my mouth. The tendrils withdrew just as quickly as they'd struck, but the damage was done. I was down. And worse, I couldn't move.
Everything dimmed, like I was sinking into a sea of shadow. Velka's laughter echoed somewhere far above me, muffled and warped like I was underwater. The battlefield—Lucian—everything felt distant. I couldn't even lift my arm. Not even to raise the scythe.
Then, a pulse.
Warm. Alive.
