Black… Dark…

Then pain, fiery, unrelenting pain. Spreading out through my chest and head like napalm in my veins.

Then a charge of fresh energy, pure joy, limitless power.

My eyes shot open, vision tinged with a light blue around the edges. It felt like the veins in them were near-bursting point. But no pain.

I could hear my heart thumping in my ears. A rapid staccato, but then a normal, steady beat.

Slowly, clear vision returned, the clearest of my life. Max’s face came into focus, hovering over me like some sort of angel.

And then my lungs returned. Air came whooshing in, fresh, and clean air. Somehow…not like Rade’s air.

All of these things seemed to happen for hours, and then they’d seem like nanoseconds. I shot up straight, gasping for breath, looking at Max.

”...Max,” I managed between gulps of air.

“Y – Yes?” He said. Apparently I had scared him.

“What…what happened?”

“I don’t know.”

And time rushed past.

“You do that?” I asked.

”...Um – no.”