Javien slumped against the base of a large tree, far from the desolate tower.
His breathing was ragged, every intake of air feeling like a blade slicing through his lungs. The blood flowing from the wound in his abdomen had begun to congeal, sticking to his tattered clothing.
I should have gone further. I should have kept running.
But my legs were dead.
Something inside my chest... felt as if it had been violently ripped away.
"Argh!"
Javien clutched his chest, his fingernails digging into his skin until it bled. This pain did not stem from sword wounds or the demon curse flowing through his blood. It was the pain of losing something I had never realized I possessed.
Something warm... something that, all this time, had been the only light in my cursed, dark existence.
It was gone. Extinguished. Just like that.
"Olivia?"
