Ember dreamed of fire that would not burn.
It crawled over her skin in slow, deliberate waves, warm but hollow, like heat remembered rather than heat felt. She tried to move away from it, but her limbs were heavy, unresponsive, sunk deep into the earth itself. Roots wrapped loosely around her wrists and ankles—not binding, not hurting. Holding.
Stay, something whispered. Not a voice. A suggestion.
Her eyes snapped open.
For a disoriented heartbeat, she didn’t know where she was. The forest loomed above her in fractured silhouettes, branches etched black against a starless sky. Cold seeped into her back, her fingers numb where they lay half-buried in damp soil.
She was alone.
The realization settled slowly, like a weight pressing down on her chest. Ember inhaled sharply—and froze.
Th
