"Lior! Lior, answer me! Where are you?!"
Ezra ran.
He ran faster than his legs could take him.
Branches whipped against his face, sharp and fast, leaving stinging lines across his skin. His boots kept catching on roots buried beneath the ground, but he didn't stop. He couldn't.
The forest was too dark.
Not just night-dark.
It swallowed everything.
His breath came out wrong, too shallow, like something heavy was sitting on his chest.
Every inhale scraped his throat, but no air seemed to reach his lungs.
"LIOR!"
His voice broke.
The sound didn't travel. It felt like the trees swallowed it whole.
His sword swung wildly in his hand, cutting through whatever got in his way. Branches. Vines. Something soft that shouldn't have been there.
It clung to the blade.
He didn't look.
"Maman!"
Ezra froze.
That voice—
It was Lior.
And judging by his tone was crying…trembling.
"Lior—!"
He turned too fast. The world tilted with him.
"Maman, help me!"
