*Briella*
I blinked my eyes open, the weight of a deep sleep still pressing down on my eyelids. For a heartbeat, there was only the blank expanse of white above me, smooth and unbroken like the surface of a calm sea. I recognized it. It was the ceiling of the Celestial Valley healing center, so familiar yet strangely alien in that groggy moment.
"Where…" My voice was a hoarse whisper, barely audible in the silence of the room.
The soft rustle of fabric against my skin sounded as I moved, trying to sit up. A dull ache spread through my muscles, the protest of a body not quite ready to move. But no sharp pain or wounds demanded immediate attention. I was whole, just sore. Confusion gnawed at the edges of my mind until, like a dam breaking, memories flooded back with relentless force.
