[Reize's POV]
Her earliest memories were of the sea—a vast, endless expanse of dark blue water. Whether it was real or not, she couldn't tell. It felt like a dream, something fleeting and uncertain.
But the memories that weighed heaviest on her, crushing those brief, pleasant moments, were of her prison. A dark, smelly, stifling room—just a little over 15 meters on each side. Two of its walls had small, iron-barred windows that let in just enough light and air to remind her of the world outside. That was her life, most of her life.
Her only source of light, her only glimpse of freedom, was that small barred window, beyond which lay an endless expanse of barren land and an unforgivingly bright sky. Nothing ever moved out there. But when something did, it was an event—something she and Yomi clung to like a lifeline.
