At first… there had been light.
Warm. Soft. So unfamiliar that I didn't know how to hold it.
The moment the Elf Queen bowed to me — bowed to us — something inside my chest loosened for the first time in years. My heart… actually dared to beat without fear. I looked up at the sky and I thought…
Mother… can you see this?
We're finally… not filth anymore.
A single tear had escaped me — not from grief, but from something much more fragile. Hope. A word I never thought belonged to me.
For once, I wasn't a curse.
For once, I wasn't alone.
For once…
I believed I might live a tomorrow worth wanting.
But then—
CRACK.
I didn't even hear it.
I just felt everything shatter.
Light didn't fade.
It was ripped away.
And suddenly—
I was falling.
…into nothing.
A void swallowed me whole — cold, silent, merciless. As if the world I had just begun to accept… had spat me out.
"Hello?"
My voice didn't echo.
It didn't exist.
I tried to lift my hand but couldn't feel my fingers.
