Theron followed her voice until the darkness finally gave way.
He stepped into a clearing so vivid that it felt almost unreal after the dead blackness of the forest. The change was so sudden it made him pause in place.
Everything here was bright, touched with color and life. Wildflowers spread across the ground in soft, untamed clusters, their fragrance drifting through the air with the sweetness of a place untouched by fear.
The breeze moved gently through the leaves overhead, and the rustle of the branches blended with the clear song of birds and the faint, harmonious hum of the world itself. The sunlight was warm and steady, spilling across the meadow in golden abundance, and butterflies floated lazily from flower to flower as though nothing had ever been broken in this place.
For a moment, he simply stood there and breathed it in.
Then he saw her.
