Chapter 53

• I was floating.
• The darkness around me was vast, empty. I felt like I was suspended in a void, weightless, drifting with no sense of direction. My mind was struggling to catch up with what had just happened. I couldn’t feel my body, couldn’t see anything except the endless black that stretched out in every direction. The only sensation was the eerie calm that had settled over me, a calm that was at odds with the turmoil I had felt moments before.
• As I floated, darkness seethed around me, like a living entity. Shadows darted past, their edges wispy and indistinct, leaving trails of unease in their wake. I felt them brush against me, ethereal fingers tracing my skin, sending shivers coursing through my veins.