ROMAN
Darkness…
It wrapped around me like something alive.
Not the quiet kind of darkness you get when you close your eyes. This was thick… heavy, suffocating. It pressed against my chest and crawled into my lungs.
I couldn’t see anything.
Not my hands. Not the ground beneath me.
The darkness didn’t echo. It didn’t respond. It just… absorbed.
I forced myself to move again.
One step.
Then another.
My foot sank suddenly, deeper than before. The ground shifted beneath me like thick sludge, dragging at my boots. I yanked my leg free, but the effort nearly pulled me off balance again.
Mud.
It had to be mud.
But I couldn’t see it.
That was the worst part.
I was fighting something I couldn’t even confirm existed.
I kept moving blindly, arms slightly outstretched, trying to feel my
