From the darkness I had willingly surrendered to, something warm pressed against me.
Light—too bright, too sudden—pierced through my closed eyelids. I tried to shut it out, but my body did not obey me the way it once did. When I finally managed to open my eyes, the world before me was nothing more than a blur of colors and motion.
A face hovered above me.
I couldn't see it clearly. My vision wavered, refusing to focus, yet an inexplicable sense of familiarity washed over me. Whoever she was, her presence felt… safe. Comforting. Like something I had known for a long time but couldn't remember.
Warm arms held me close. I realized then that I was being lifted—effortlessly.
Lifted?
That shouldn't have been possible.
Panic stirred, but my body betrayed me again. My limbs were weak. Unresponsive. Smaller than they should have been. I tried to speak, to scream, to demand an explanation—but all that escaped me was a faint, unfamiliar sound.
In that moment, a terrifying truth settled in.
I was alive somehow.
And whatever body I now inhabited… was no longer my own.
Fear coiled tightly in my chest, yet my thoughts remained strangely clear—too clear. No matter how hard I tried to move, to assert control, my body refused to respond. Crying was the only thing it seemed capable of, and so I cried.
The warm arms hugged me tighter.
A gentle voice followed, singing a lullaby in a language I couldn't recognize. I didn't understand the words, but the rhythm and tone seeped into me, easing the panic little by little.
My cries faded. My thoughts slowed.
I closed my eyes once more, surrendering to the unfamiliar sense of peace—and drifted back into darkness.