C70 THE HEART OF THE WORLD

The brightness consumed everything.

Elara couldn't tell if she was alive or just remembering what it was like to be alive for a moment.

There was no sky, no sound, and no ground underneath her. There was only an unending white fire that pulsed with a heartbeat older than time.

She floated, weightless. Her body felt both infinite and fractured.

Then—"Elara..