Ash Beneath Her Skin

Mara should have died.

Instead, she woke up here.

A dying forest of blackened trees and breathing fog, where the ground splits open with ember-lit cracks and something unseen follows her every step. Time twists. Paths repeat. Escape is a lie.

And she is not alone.

He watches her from the shadows-silent, patient, inhuman. A demon bound to the forest... or the reason it's dying. His presence suffocates. His gaze burns.

And he knows exactly what she is.

The longer Mara survives, the more the world begins to change around her. The cold listens. The fog moves for her. And something beneath her skin begins to wake.

Because she was never meant to leave.

She was meant to belong.

To the forest.
To the darkness.
To him.