EMBER’S POV
(A MOMENT EARLIER)
I’m standing in a place that doesn’t exist.
There’s no ground under my feet — just something soft and silver that feels like moonlight given form, like the surface of a still lake that forgot it was supposed to ripple.
The sky above me isn’t a sky at all but an endless swirl of stars and ancient mist, stretching so far in every direction that the concept of distance loses all meaning.
Everything here is dead quiet in a way that the real world never is, peaceful in a way that feels older than time, like this place has been waiting for me since before I drew my first breath.
And there, sitting perfectly still with her head tilted in patient curiosity, is a wolf.
She’s the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen.
Her fur is silver-white, so pale it seems
