Breath

Evlyn took slow, measured breaths. The crisp, cold winter air slowly pumping in and out of her lungs. Light fog obscured the city streets below her, and the moons were all waning heavily, giving way to an eerie darkness in the night; even the Lightspire's light was heavily dimmed by the fog. The ground below her perch, some 40 feet down--tall for a building in Vria--was quiet. Usually, it'd be bustling with activity at this hour, people filtering in and out of the main thoroughfares as the city transitioned from daylife to nightlife. There was no life this night. Fog held strange superstitions in the minds of many Vrians. Evlyn felt alive in it, thriving in its shrouding, in its mystery; its embrace. The first time she'd experienced fog in the city had been more jarring that her first timeshift, the city feeling abandonded under the mists.   These moments were rare for her now, being able to stop and just breathe, to push her breaths to synchronicity with her heartbeat. It was something she'd found herself doing absent-mindedly growing up. Now, she did it on purpose, as a form of meditation. It made her feel more when they were aligned, like she was a part of a bigger whole. It wasn't something she entirely understood, or was even sure wasn't just her imagination. Nonetheless, she found the practise comforting, an excuse to slow down. As a bonus, once she'd propely aligned the rhythms of her heart and lungs, they stayed that way for some time after. At first it'd only been maybe 30 seconds. Now it felt closer to an hour before they faded apart.   Evlyn leapt from her perch, across the side street below to an opposite rooftop, breaking out into a sprint as she landed. A few of her footfalls fell inline with her rhythm as well, though not all of them. They were their own rhythm. The polyrhythm gave her a strange feeling; apart but together. She was undecided on whether she like the feeling or not. Slowly, rooftop by rooftop, her breathing grew labored. It didn't fall out of sync. Her heartbeat rose to match, a slow build up of adrenaline as she continued to move. Tonight, she could be free for a few hours. Free from it all, obscured by fog from the world. Even from herself.