Lara felt as though she was drowning—not in water, but in a vast chasm of endless darkness that swallowed sound, light, and thought alike. The void pressed in from every side, heavy and suffocating, until even the idea of breath felt foreign.
Then, suddenly, she found her footing.
Relief lasted only a heartbeat. The ground lurched and tilted beneath her, and though she could see nothing, she knew with terrifying certainty—that her world had been turned upside down. Balance became meaningless. Direction ceased to exist.
Her mind unraveled into chaos.
Fragments of memory burst forth without warning, crashing over her in relentless waves.
A lifetime unfolded in an instant, played at a merciless speed, each moment bleeding into the next.
She saw it again—that day in the carriage full of children and teenagers, the sharp scent of fear, the iron grip of human traffickers stealing their freedom.
Then their escape and the eventful meeting with the white-haired master.
