Elara couldn't breathe.
Not because the air was gone—there was air. But it was thick, pressing down on her like a weight, filled with something more than just silence.
Memories.
Not hers.
The place itself remembered.
And in front of her—standing in the swirling darkness—was her mother.
Elara's heart stopped.
She looked exactly the same.
Not older. Not younger. Just as Elara had last seen her before she…
Elara's throat tightened. "Mom?"
Her mother smiled. "You're late."
Elara's breath hitched. This wasn't real. It couldn't be.
Her mother had been gone for years.
But she looked so real.
Elara reached out—hesitated—and her mother did the same.
Their fingertips brushed.
She was solid.
Elara yanked her hand back. "You—this—how?"
Her mother's eyes softened. "I knew you'd come, eventually."
Elara shook her head. "No. You're—"
Gone.
She didn't say the word. Couldn't.
Her mother just smiled. "I've missed you."
Elara's legs felt weak.
This was wrong. Impossible.
But her heart ached at the sight of her, at the warmth in her voice.
Tears stung Elara's eyes. "I don't understand."
Her mother stepped closer. "You will."
Elara forced herself to focus. This place—the ruins, the whispers, the name.
It had all led her here.
To this moment.
To her mother.
"Are you real?" Elara whispered.
Her mother didn't answer.
Instead, she reached out and touched Elara's forehead—
And everything shattered.
---
Astra paced outside the ruins.
It had been too long.
Elara was inside, and Astra had no way to reach her.
She clenched her fists. This was bad.
No. Worse than bad.
Elara had spoken a name—a name Astra had never heard before. And then the ruins had reacted like they'd been waiting for her.
That wasn't normal.
Nothing about this was normal.
Astra exhaled sharply. "You'd better come back soon, kid."
Because something about this place felt wrong.
And if she lost Elara now—
Astra didn't finish the thought.
She just tightened her grip on her dagger and waited.
---
Elara wasn't in the ruins anymore.
She was somewhere else.
The world around her shifted, blurred, rebuilt itself.
She stood in a city of gold and stone, bathed in soft, glowing light.
It was beautiful.
And empty.
The streets stretched endlessly, lined with intricate carvings and towering spires. But there were no people.
Only echoes.
Faint figures, flickering like candlelight, moving through the city like ghosts of a forgotten time.
A voice whispered in her ear.
"Remember."
Elara's head throbbed.
This place—
She knew this place.
But how?
Her mother's voice drifted through the air. "You are part of something greater, Elara. Something older than you can imagine."
Elara turned, heart pounding.
Her mother stood at the center of the golden city, watching her.
Elara took a shaky step forward. "What is this place?"
Her mother smiled. "The beginning."
The golden city shuddered.
Light burst from the ground, illuminating symbols and runes that Elara didn't understand—but somewhere deep inside her, she recognized them.
She knew their meaning.
Their purpose.
Her mother's voice softened. "You have always been meant to return."
Elara's chest tightened. "Return? To what?"
Her mother's expression darkened. "To what was lost."
The city trembled.
The golden light flickered—cracked.
The sky above them split open.
And the shadows came pouring in.
Elara gasped as the warmth of the city vanished, replaced by a consuming darkness.
Her mother reached for her—but the shadows pulled her away.
"Elara!"
Elara screamed as the world collapsed.
---
She woke up with a gasp.
The ruins were dark again.
No golden light. No city. No mother.
Just Astra, shaking her.
"Elara! Breathe!"
Elara sucked in a sharp breath, her body aching, trembling.
Astra's face hovered over hers, golden eyes filled with worry.
"What the hell just happened?" Astra demanded. "You were gone for hours!"
Elara's head pounded.
She could still hear the whispers.
Still feel the golden city's warmth.
And the shadows that had swallowed it.
She looked at Astra, her voice barely a whisper.
"I think I just remembered something that never happened."
Astra frowned. "Elara—"
Elara gripped her arm. "We have to leave. Now."
Because she knew, with bone-deep certainty, that whatever had been waiting in that place—
Had seen her, too.
And it was coming.