Lorelei POV
"Your pasts are pulling you both back," Nala’s voice echoed loudly, colder than before.
A violent shiver raced down my spine as the atmosphere around us became suffocatingly heavy.
"I sense a terrible storm approaching," she murmured.
The instant those words left her lips, a deafening gale exploded through the darkness.
The freezing wind slammed into me with such force that I immediately lost my footing, nearly being swept into the endless void. I desperately clutched my cream scarf against my chest while shielding my face from the relentless blast.
"Nala! Stop this!" I screamed over the roar of the storm, desperately wanting her to end the illusion.
But when I looked at her, she wasn’t looking at me.
She stood perfectly still, like a statue carved from stone, her gaze fixed on the empty darkness before us.
Her golden eyes were wide open, glowing with a terrifying brilliance that pierced through the void. Thick black mist swirled violently around her body as her long braids whipped wildly in the raging wind.
Her lips continued to move.
Over and over, she chanted the same word.
"Vekhara... Vekhara... Vekhara..."
I didn’t know what the word meant, but something deep inside me screamed that it wasn’t good.
Panic seized my chest.
For some reason, I was even more terrified now than when those snakes had hissed fiercely in my face.
"Nala! Snap out of it!" I shouted, forcing myself against the brutal wind as I tried to reach her.
But every step I took was met with an invisible force that shoved me backward.
The chanting only grew louder.
Her voice echoed through the darkness until it sounded less like one person and more like a chorus of countless voices speaking in unison.
Then I noticed a thin stream of dark red blood slowly trickling from her nose, running over her lips before disappearing down her chin.
My heart lurched.
This was too much.
Something was terribly wrong.
I couldn’t let this continue.
Summoning every ounce of strength left in my exhausted body, I lowered my head against the raging wind, planted my feet, and hurled myself toward her with everything I had.
With a desperate lunge, I reached out and grabbed her hand.
The instant my fingers wrapped around her cold wrist, Nala suddenly sucked in a sharp, ragged breath, like someone who had been drowning and had finally broken through the surface for air.
In the blink of an eye, the howling storm, the endless darkness, and the terrifying illusions disappeared.
The warm lights of her guest room flickered back to life.
I stumbled forward, my feet landing on the soft carpet beneath us.
We were standing right in front of her vanity.
The two revealing dresses still rested neatly on the armchair, as though we had never left the room at all.
"Are you okay?" I asked, my voice trembling as I struggled to steady my shaking legs.
"I am well. Why would I not be?" she replied casually.

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