A NEW LIFE

ARIANNE POV

I stood frozen, my heart pounding in my chest as I watched everything unfold in agonizing slow motion. Ravenna stood before me with a look of horror etched on her face, her eyes wide and pleading as blood poured from her lips like a crimson waterfall.

"No," I heard a distant shout, a guttural cry that seemed to tear through the very fabric of my being. And then I realized with a jolt of horror that the anguished cry was coming from me.

Without a moment's hesitation, I ran towards Ravenna, my legs moving as if weighed down by lead, each step feeling like an eternity. The world around me blurred into a haze of colors and shapes, the only thing in focus being Ravenna's crumpled form on the ground.