Lara? Are you all right? Lara!The voice was familiar but far away. Growing closer. And closer.
Her eyes popped open. She was floating, as if on her back, breathless, her lungs burning for air. What seemed like an eternity passed before she could breathe normally.
“Lara?” Danni’s voice sounded far away.
They were enveloped in darkness. Sounds grew more distinct. She heard the hum and chirp of night insects. Dark shapes loomed tall above her. Slowly, in the night sky—a velvety purple glowing with the orange Weiran moon—she could see…trees. “Danni,” she whispered, catching her breath as a biting pain, unlike any she’d ever known sliced through her left leg.
“I’m here, Lara.” She felt a hand on her arm. His face appeared above her.
“Where are we?”
“I don’t know. A forest somewhere. You
