"Kiara." His voice was softer now, steady. "You’re going to be fine. You’ve got this, okay? Just... find a way out. I’ll... I’ll et you outside."
The pain in my chest felt like a physical weight, and I struggled to breathe. "You promise?" My voice broke on the word.
"Yeah," he said, his tone holding that sa impossible confidence. "I promise."
Another tremor, and I felt the ground shift again, the floor beneath cracking further. I was losing my balance, sliding toward the gaping hole as the edges crumbled.
"Jason!" I cried, reaching out, clinging to the last solid piece of flooring.
And then, as if in answer, his voice cut through, steady and strong, even through the wall of debris. "Kiara... I’m fine. Trust . Now go!"
I closed my eyes, gulping.
Adrenaline flowed through my veins, pushing forward, forcing to pull myself up.
I turned, crawling toward the last open path I’d found, every instinct screaming at to go back for him. But his voice echoed in my head, urging forward.
I reached the gap, slipping through, and stumbled out into open air, the sunlight blinding after the darkness inside. Gasping, I turned back, my heart pounding, waiting for any sign of him, any movent from the building.
But the building shuddered, walls collapsing in on themselves as a final, heavy silence settled over the rubble.
I sank to my knees, tears streaming down my face. "Jason..." I whispered, clutching my chest. He’d promised. He’d said he’d et outside.
But as I sat there, staring at the ruins, the only sound was the wind, carrying away the last echoes of his voice.
All I could hear was the deafening roar of crumbling tal and concrete behind .
And I was alone.
Jason wasn’t by my side. My chest ached as if a part of was left trapped back in that nightmare, buried under rubble with him.
"Jason... please..." I whispered, barely able to stand.
Please...tears burned my eyes, please no...please...
Please don’t tell that just because I survived, Jason would...oh God.
A wave of dizziness washed over .
My ankle throbbed, and every inch of felt bruised and battered.
But then, through the haze of dust and tears, I heard it—a voice calling out. My na.
Firm, clear, cutting through the fog in my mind.
"Kiara!"
My head whipped around, and there he was, scrambling over debris, his face streaked with dust and worry, but unmistakably alive. Relief so intense it was almost painful crashed over .
He’d made it.
He was here.
"Jason!" My voice cracked, but the word ca out, and then I was moving toward him, dragging my injured leg, ignoring the agony that flared with each step.
"Stay there!" he shouted, weaving through a ss of twisted tal and shattered glass until he was close enough to reach . His hands grabbed my shoulders, his gaze raking over like he couldn’t believe I was real.
"Kiara..." His voice dropped, raw, and he didn’t say another word before pulling into his arms. The world around us faded—there were no flashing lights, no collapsing building, only the feeling of his heartbeat against mine.
"I thought you didn’t..." I choked on the words, my hands clutching his shirt. "I thought you didn’t make it."
He pulled back just enough to look at , his thumb brushing away the dirt smudged across my cheek. "You think I’d leave you behind that easily? I am not done taunting you just yet."
The ghost of a smile passed over his lips, but his eyes held a vulnerability I’d never seen in him before. Then he drew closer again, his hand cradling my head, as if I might disappear if he let go.
The sounds of shouting voices broke through, a rush of people, and the flood of lights and caras surrounded us. Jason’s arms tightened protectively around as dics pushed forward, soone checking my ankle, another feeling for my pulse.
"She needs dical attention," a woman’s voice said, firm and no-nonsense, as she directed a stretcher toward .
I was shaking, suddenly aware of the pain coursing through my body, the exhaustion weighing down on .
I tried to speak, to tell them that Jason was hurt too, but the words tangled in my throat. My fingers clutched his shirt one last ti, and I looked up at him, my vision blurring.
"Jason..." I whispered, my voice barely a breath, "don’t go anywhere."
His hand found mine, his thumb brushing over my knuckles. "Not a chance," he promised, voice steady, reassuring.
But there was sothing in his eyes, a mix of relief and worry, his gaze holding mine with an intensity that seed to anchor .
The dics began lifting , pulling away from him. I felt the separation like a physical pain, but his hand didn’t let go until the last second, our fingers slipping apart.
As they guided onto the stretcher, I blinked through the tears pooling in my eyes. My body was heavy, exhaustion settling into my bones. The world spun, the sounds around dulling to a faint hum. Jason’s face blurred, and as darkness began to close in, I heard one last murmur of his voice—a promise, barely a whisper.
"I’ll be right here, Kiara. Right here."
And then, as my eyes drifted shut, everything faded.
****
I was sowhere unfamiliar, shadows stretching across damp walls, the faintest flickers of light casting eerie shapes around .
A man’s voice echoed, rough and pleading, cutting through the silence.
"Help—soone, please, they’re here. Dying..."
I looked around wildly, my vision blurred as I tried to see him, but his face was hidden. His voice cracked, desperate.
"I’m here," he said, crouching, reaching out as if searching for soone. "I’m here for you."
The words struck with a strange familiarity, like the faintest echo of a mory, one I couldn’t place.
I tried to reach out to him, but before my hand could even move, the scene shifted, dissolving into sothing colder, darker.
I was in a foggy place now, dense mist swirling around my ankles, crawling higher and higher as if to swallow . My heart raced. An uneasy silence blanketed everything, broken only by faint whispers.
"Forbidden...
tied...
sacred..."
The words drifted around , unsettling, sinister.
"Forbidden...
tied...
sacred..."
It kept on repeating. Over and over again.
Like a chant.
Dangerous and fearful. Goosebumps filled my skin, my eyes glossed over.
The atmosphere had a feeling of sothing ancient and unknown pressing down on .
I took a step back, but the whispers only grew louder, surrounding from all sides, each word pulling deeper into the fog.
A bone-chilling wail split the silence.
My heart seized as a banshee appeared, her form spectral and ghastly, shrouded in flowing, tattered robes.
My eyes widened as I recognized what that was.
A banshee.
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