~RAMON~
Pain tore through my chest without warning, violent and invasive, as though an unseen hand had reached inside my ribcage and wrapped merciless fingers around my heart before twisting with deliberate cruelty.
This was not the pain of steel biting into flesh or fire searing through armor in the heat of battle, but something far deeper and infinitely more terrifying, a rupture that felt spiritual rather than physical. I staggered mid-strike, my blade veering wildly off course as the breath was driven from my lungs in a harsh, broken gasp that tasted of dread.
No.
My hand flew to my chest as instinct overrode discipline, and the dread that bloomed within me was immediate and absolute. This was not exhaustion dragging at my limbs, nor was it some hidden wound finally demanding recog
