She wasn’t sure how long she had been unconscious. It could have been minutes or hours. Time seemed to blur and stretch into something meaningless. All she could remember was the man—the glowing eyes, the way he seemed to control the very air around him, bending it to his will. The way his voice had wrapped around her thoughts, pulling her under. She could still hear his words echoing in her mind, fragments of a truth she wasn’t ready to face. You’re the key. The key to everything.
A sharp pain shot through her ribs as she tried to move, reminding her of the blow that had knocked her to the ground. She winced, sucking in a shallow breath, her hand instinctively going to her side. It felt like her body had been hit by a boulder. Every inch of her throbbed with pain, but she couldn’t afford to focus on that now. She had to find the others.