Everything was black. Xiao Zhi tried to breathe, but her chest felt like it was trapped under a mountain of heavy stone. She couldn't hear the wind anymore or the sound of the horses running. The world above the cliff had vanished, leaving her at the bottom of a cold, deep gorge.
The last thing she remembered was the look on Kabil's face. That pure, mindless hatred as he gave her that final, brutal shove. She remembered the terrifying sensation of weightlessness, the world falling away from her feet as she tumbled into the white mist. In that split second of falling, she had thought that she was about to die.
Let it end, she had prayed as the wind whipped past her ears. Let this nightmare be over. When I open my eyes, let me be back in my apartment.
But as consciousness returned, bringing a throbbing pain through her entire body, she realized she was not back in the real world.
