Chapter FIFTY-SEVEN

Lusia Cold. That was the first thing I felt when my consciousness began to return. A biting chill seeped into my skin, pricking at my nerves like tiny needles. My body ached, my limbs stiff as if I had been lying in one position for too long. A dull, throbbing pain pulsed at the back of my skull, making it hard to focus. I forced my eyes open. The sky stretched endlessly above me, a canvas of deep gray tinged with fading streaks of orange. It was twilight. The air smelled of damp earth and grass, fresh yet foreign. The ground beneath me was hard and uneven, the cold dirt pressing into my palms as I slowly pushed myself up. Something was wrong. My heartbeat quickened as I glanced around, my vision still hazy from whatever had knocked me unconscious. I was in the middle of a vast, open field—tall, unkempt grass swaying in the wind, stretching far into the horizon. No walls. No buildings. No familiar landmarks. Panic coiled in my chest like a living thing. Where was I? My mind scrambled f