"...reckless act of defiance..."

"...had no choice! They were going to destroy us!"

"You've brought ruin upon us all with your arrogance!"

The voices ebbed and flowed, their words indistinct but laced with a palpable tension that set Elara's fur on end. She struggled to make sense of it all, to anchor herself to the reality that seemed to be slipping through her mental grasp like grains of sand.

Then, like a bolt of lightning cutting through the miasma, a memory crystallized – Damien, broken and bloodied, summoning the last vestiges of his strength to reach out to her before the darkness claimed them both.

Her eyes flew open, her...