embrace

The air still felt thick with the remnants of battle as I leaned into Raven's embrace, my body trembling from both the exhaustion and the lingering presence of the entity that had been vanquished moments ago. Her arms around me were the only thing grounding me to the present, pulling me away from the suffocating darkness that still clung to the edges of my mind. Even though the entity was gone, I could feel its echo, like a faint whisper in the back of my head, a reminder that the fight wasn't truly over.

Raven tilted my chin upward, her face inches from mine, her breath warm against my skin. "Jade," she murmured, her voice laced with concern. "You did it. You destroyed it."