6/11/2025, 10:42 PM
![[Image: 97259965_T6SVBEdJDTZ3Axd.png]](https://f2.toyhou.se/file/f2-toyhou-se/images/97259965_T6SVBEdJDTZ3Axd.png)
dying was peaceful.
though it came too soon, in ways she did not deserve, it was more peaceful than the life she’d lived. gone were the voices, and all the things she wished to not see. gone were her parents, their greedy hands and empty hearts. gone were the nightmares, and all the people who wished her harm.
gone was the girl she was expected to be, the wishes she would never grant.
but the pain had gone nowhere. it clung to her, wrapped around her like a lover’s cruel embrace. and yet...she welcomed it with open arms, with tears that soaked into her skin and filled the hollow in chest, until, for the first time, she felt whole.
it was a pain she sacrificed herself for. a pain she had been ready for.
so when the time came, and she was forced back into the world of the living, all she could feel was disappointment. her mind stirred, rebuilding, reawakening—dragging her back into a reality she did not want. she wanted more time, more nothingness. was that too much to ask? didn’t she deserve something—anything?
swallowing down the sudden grief that coiled in her throat, eliana took a few shallow breaths, groaning as her chest rose. her pale face twisted at the taste of ash that clung to her tongue—a cruel, lingering reminder of all she had suffered. there was no smoke. no smell of of burning or sounds of crackling oak. a good thing, she supposed. hoped. but there was also no salt in the air, no crisp tinge of the sea that had always made her smile and wish to escape on every new boat that docked itself at shore.
instead, earth met her. the scent of dampened old wood, the low calls of ravens. and the darkness that had followed her even in this life.
before she knew what she was even doing, eliana was stumbling forward blindly like a newborn fawn, cheeks stained, tail tucked low between her legs. panic shot through her, spreading like hungry fire, and fear found its old home within her bones, settling in as if it had never left.
and then a voice—and the girl froze, heart stuttering in her chest, breaths stalling. no matter how hard she tried, she could not find words to save herself.
![[Image: 110629903_SVnkoC4OdeI6gLJ.png]](https://f2.toyhou.se/file/f2-toyhou-se/images/110629903_SVnkoC4OdeI6gLJ.png)