Xavier's world was dark, a never-ending void with flashes of light that stabbed at his mind like shards of broken glass. He wasn't sure how long he'd been trapped in this limbo, drifting between moments of awareness and overwhelming blackness. His body felt heavy, like he was submerged in water, unable to surface for air.
Alessia.
Her name echoed in his head like a desperate call, reverberating through the empty space around him. He could see her face sometimes, hazy and out of reach, like a picture in an old photograph that was slowly fading away. Every time he tried to reach for her, to pull her closer, something dragged him back into the darkness. It was suffocating.
