C11 Chapter 11: The Fracture of Sleep

Ethan’s eyelids fluttered open, heavy as if weighed down by sandbags. The world came into focus slowly, like a fog lifting after a storm. At first, all he could make out were shapes—shadows bristling with steel, the faint glow of torches, and a suffocating sense of hostility pressing in on all sides.

When his vision cleared fully, his stomach dropped.

He was surrounded