The grass crunched under her bare feet, brittle and dry as bone.
A mansion loomed ahead, grand and elegant, its marble walls kissed by twilight—until fire swallowed it whole.
Flames rolled across the sky, turning clouds into molten rivers. The air reeked of smoke and iron. Bodies littered the ground. Not moving. Not breathing. Their lifeless faces stared at nothing.
And among them stood a boy.
Small, almost fragile in frame, but the way he held himself carved a mark into her mind. Ruby-red eyes burned through the haze, reflecting the fire like shards of glass.
He didn't flinch as embers danced around him. He didn't speak. He simply watched, silent and still, like he belonged to the ruin.
When his gaze snapped toward her, her chest locked up.
She tried to scream, but the roar of the flames swallowed her voice—
* *
Sunlight forced its way through the curtains, but it felt hollow, as if even the day refused to touch this room.
"NO!"
