Echoes Of War

CHAPTER XVI | PREMONITION

Icy water coils around her limbs like serpents, dragging her down, pulling her further from the surface with merciless strength.

Lunis' mouth splits open in a strangled gasp, a choked howl tearing free as the river shoves its way into her lungs, flooding her chest with icy fire.

She can't breathe.

She can't see.

Only chaos greets her-blurred shapes twisting beyond the veil of rushing waves, the muffled roar of water pounding against her skull. The world is nothing but noise and cold and the crushing weight of panic. Her body thrashes, desperate, instinct clawing against the darkness that creeps in around the edges of her mind.

The river doesn't relent. It surges over her like a living beast, swallowing her whole as her heartbeat falters beneath the sound of its endless roar.

And then-light.

The surface explodes around her as Lunis bursts through, gasping, choking on the air that finally floods her lungs. The burn sears through her chest, raw and agonizing-but it's air. Blessed air.

The moment doesn't last.

The river's grip is merciless, crashing over her again and again, dragging her under, thrashing her like prey caught in Death's maw. Water forces its way into her throat, filling her lungs with fire. Each breath is a war. Each heartbeat slower than the last. The cold gnaws at her bones, leeching the strength from her muscles until she can barely kick, barely fight.

She's drowning-she can feel it.

"Lunis!!"

Blaze's voice-raw, terrified-tears through the chaos like a lifeline.

Her body jolts with desperate energy, paws slicing through the churning water as her head snaps toward the sound. Her gaze scours the foamy expanse, straining for a glimpse of his sandy coat-anything-but the river offers her nothing. Only whitewater and shadows.

"Blaze!!" she howls back, her voice hoarse, breaking apart beneath the roar of the current.

A wave crashes over her head, forcing her down. Cold darkness envelops her, crushing, endless. She kicks, claws, breaks through the surface once more with a gasp that tears her throat raw.

Blinking against the sting, she catches sight of him-a blur of movement on the bank, his amber eyes wide, his jaws parted in a cry that barely reaches her.

"Lunis!!!"

He doesn't see her.

And as the current drags her further downstream, the space between them widens-filled with foam, fury, and the deafening roar of the river. Another wave slams into her, ruthless and cold, pulling her under. The current hurls across the sandy riverbed, her limbs flailing uselessly in the dark when a sickening crack echoes through her skull.

Her body goes numb. The cold no longer burns-it devours. Pain blooms sharp and jagged behind her eyes, a searing crack that shatters thought itself.

Air flees her lungs, the coppery tang of blood and river silt flooding her tongue. The world tilts, fragments, blurs.

Darkness blossoms at the edge of her vision, swelling with every fading heartbeat. The river's roar softens, slipping away like a distant storm. Shafts of pale light filter through the murk, ghostly ribbons reaching for her as her consciousness drifts beyond their grasp.

Even as a gentle push of current lifts her toward the surface-toward the faint kiss of wind brushing her fur-Lunis barely feels the jaws that clamp into her scruff, strong and sure. She doesn't hear the desperate howl calling her name, doesn't sense the ground rising beneath her as the current releases its hold.