The world around me was pitch black, an endless void where nothing existed but the faint sense of my own presence. I couldn't see my hands, couldn't feel the ground beneath me, but I knew I was here, somehow suspended in this empty realm.
My heart thudded in my chest, a dull ache spreading through me. "Where am I?" I muttered to myself, my voice swallowed by the darkness. "I can't see anything."
A soft giggle broke the silence, light and teasing, unmistakably a girl's. It came from nowhere and everywhere, making the hairs on my neck stand up. I whipped my head around, squinting into the void, but saw nothing.
"Who's there?" I called, my voice sharper now, tinged with unease.
"Ezra…" the voice said, soft and familiar, like a memory tugging at my heart. "You don't recognize me?"
My chest tightened, a rush of emotions flooding through me—longing, pain, something warm and aching. That voice… I knew it, deep in my bones. My breath caught, and I whispered,
"Aeri…"
