KAEL'S POV
Sounds died first, or maybe it was that the sound was so loud it crushed into silence — a ringing void that filled my head like a hammer strike. Heat clawed at every inch of me, shoving the air from my lungs, burning through my clothes as if the fabric were made of paper.
Something hard slammed into my ribs. I couldn't tell if I'd fallen, been thrown, or both. The ground beneath my palms felt wrong — slick, warm, not the cold stone it had been a heartbeat ago.
I tried to open my eyes. Nothing. A red smear of light burned behind my lids, pulsing with my heartbeat. The stench of charred air filled my nose, sharp and metallic, clinging to my tongue until I tasted ash.
"Ay—" My throat locked. I tried again, louder, though I couldn't even hear my own voice. "Ayla!"
The ringing cracked — a dull, far-off thud pressing through it. My ears stuttered back into the world in jagged slices: the snap of fire, the hiss of cooling stone, the scrape of boots.
