Darkness.
It wasn't cold or painful. Just... Still.
Riven felt like he was floating. Not above the ground. Not below. Not even in water. Just suspended. Somewhere, that time didn't seem to reach.
And then, there was a voice.
Soft. Warm. Feminine. The kind of voice that made your chest ache with longing, even if you didn't know why.
"You're here," the voice said gently. "You always find your way back to me, don't you?"
Riven blinked, though he had no body to blink with, and saw nothing. Just a soft golden light in the void, flickering like a candle flame.
"My love," the voice whispered again, closer now. "They fought over me, you know. So many of them. I used to think none of it mattered. I didn't believe in love, or forever, or… Or anything at all."
There was a pause. Something shifted in the space around him. Just whose voice was this? Who was this person, and why was she talking to him?
"Until you."
