Caitlyn’s POV

I felt the weight of a thousand moments press against me as I slowly opened my eyes. The starlight surrounding me had no end. It was as though the night had swallowed me whole, yet here I was, floating in the glow of something impossible. A place so quiet, so still, I wondered if it had ever known time. It was beautiful in a way that felt both foreign and strangely familiar—like a memory that danced just out of reach.

The air, thick with the scent of flowers that were not flowers, shifted with every breath I took. My body felt lighter, as if I had shed the...