Valtira.
One second I was standing, steady enough to take a breath, to ground myself in the familiar weight of the room—and the next, a sharp, searing pain ripped through me so violently it stole the air from my lungs.
The sound that tore out of my throat was not a scream, not quite, but something raw and broken in between as my knees buckled beneath me. I clutched my stomach on pure instinct, fingers digging into fabric as though I could hold myself together by force alone.
Pain bloomed everywhere at once. It was not only my belly. It crawled up my spine, tightened around my chest, flared behind my eyes. It radiated outward like something had struck the center of my body and sent shockwaves through bone and blood alike.
I doubled over, shaking, breath coming in sharp, shallow gasps t
