A year.
A whole year.
The words echoed in Vyan's head like a bell tolling at the end of something sacred. His chest tightened, his ribs still in a healing phase now to contain the panic suddenly clawing its way up from deep inside.
His heart was thudding hard and uneven, like it was trying to catch up to time itself.
A year…
He turned slightly, gazing out at the open water. The Trycone Sea was silver in the daylight, stretching endlessly beneath a pale sky streaked with thin clouds. The warm wind whispered softly.
Ah, it's summer again.
It was summer when he disappeared. Seasons had changed. Fall, winter, and spring had all passed by in his absence. And it was summer again.
Gosh, I was right to be scared that the pace of our time was different.
A tremble built in his hands, a tight coil of disbelief and fury stirring in his chest.
Joshua.
That bastard. That stupid, fucking asshole who shot him and sent him into a coma. Everything had spiraled because of him.
