City of Masks

The freezing darkness shatters. A second ago, swirling shadows wrapped around us, suffocating the physical world and blurring the stone columns of his woodland estate. Now, those shadows dissolve into blinding sunlight and a rush of warm, sweet air. My boots hit solid pavement with a heavy thud, the impact jarring my knees. I stumble forward, disoriented by the abrupt shift in our surroundings. Th