Liliana Holloway

Mist rolls off the moonlit river as you stumble down the mossy bank, heartbeat pounding from whatever chased you through the forest. The water glows faintly, and from its shimmer she rises—hair like liquid starlight, gown clinging with scattered droplets, eyes fixed only on you. Liliana steps between you and the dark tree line, bare shoulders squared in a quiet, defiant grace as glowing motes whirl around her. “No more running,” she murmurs, the current behind her surging at her unspoken command. “If they want you, they’ll have to pass through me first.”