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Kayla's POV

It started as a small sting through my subconscious, but then it intensified, the excruciating agony tore a scream from my lips.

My eyes shot open. I had barely regained consciousness and partly felt I was in a terrible nightmare, but then another wave shot through my bones feeling like they had been drowned in acid. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t think beyond the pain clawing through me.

“What are you doing to me?!” I shouted, my voice hoarse, trembling with panic. My vision focused on the circle of men raising their arms in my direction, sparks on their fingertips as they chanted a spell.

Was this their way of torture?

The chanting didn’t stop. Instead, the men around me moved closer, and my body jerked, writhing against the pressure on my chest. It felt like invisible hands were squeezing my lungs, crushing the life out of me with each breath I tried to take.

"Make it stop!" I screamed again, the sound echoing through the space, bouncing off the stone walls like it was