Maximus

The silence hit like a blow. The world stopped breathing. The flames that had once roared around me now licked at the edges of my skin, too faint, too thin. My chest burned, but not from the fire. From the absence of it. From the absence of her voice.

“Rebecca?”

Nothing. Only the low, hissing sound of cooling stone. The haze around me thickened, rolling like smoke. The creatures were gone or hiding. The ground was still bleeding faint light, but the color had ...