(Back at Kieran's end)
The dark landscape was no more. There was light around Kieran.It was a room he was sitting in, no chains, no bondage.
The first breath Kieran took in this new awareness was shallow, the air tasting stale in his lungs. Consciousness returned not as a flood, but as a slow, creeping thaw. The world was a blur of muted colors and muffled sounds that gradually sharpened into focus. He was sitting on a cold, hard chair. The first thing he truly registered was the weight of the heavy presence in front of him.
Selene's face bloomed in his vision, a vision that felt somehow delayed, like watching a recording a fraction of a second after it happened. She was smiling, a sweet, almost cherubic expression that didn't quite reach the glittering depths of her eyes.
