The rope dissolved.
The soldiers vanished like smoke.
Belleah's laughter faded.
Darius's cold eyes dissolved into darkness.
And the courtyard evaporated around us.
I gasped as the forest rushed back—the real forest, damp and heavy with night.
I fell to my knees, coughing, clutching my throat.
Elian hugged me tightly, crying into my shoulder.
"Mom! Mom, I thought you were dying!"
I held him to my chest, tears streaming down my face. "I'm here. I'm here. I'm not leaving you again. Never again."
My neck still burned—like the rope had truly been there.
I touched the skin.
It was bruised.
Real.
The past wasn't just haunting me.
It was bleeding into the present.
"Elian," I whispered shakily, "we need to keep moving. Whatever's happening… it's only going to get worse."
He nodded, sniffling.
I stood, gathering him into my arms again.
As we walked deeper into the forest, the archway crumbled behind us with a low rumble—like a grave sealing itself shut.
I didn't look back.
