Chapter Text
Green. In the short moments when he could keep his eyes open all he could see was green. The sky was green. Falling in and out of consciousness. The rocks were green. Violent flashes of light, like a storm in the distance with lightning constantly striking. The light was green. He seemed to stay awake for longer now.
His body felt weird. He could not place it. He couldn't open his eyes. He couldn't feel anything under his back. He wasn't laying down on anything. It was almost like... he was floating, but how? Now that he noticed he could feel warm breeze over his skin, moving in waves over his body as he soared through the air.
It felt strange, the air. Devoid of smell. With every breath he could almost taste something in the back of his throat. Something he has never tasted before, yet it was there, a sharp sensation prickling his tongue. He ignored the feeling for the time being.
Next, he noticed the eerie quiet. The silence felt almost solid, only broken by some incoherent whispering, barely audible, yet disturbing. He should be hearing the storm, the wind howling, but instead there was just this sound he assumed to be words.
His head was hurting. It was hurting in this familiar way as if he stayed up all night and then when trying to fall asleep during the morning hours the headache would keep him up. With every breath he took the pain intensified. Now it was getting to the point where he felt as though he had drunk way too much coffee to cope with an all-nighter. Worse and worse the pain outgrew being a simple annoyance, moving to the forefront of his mind. He tried to reach out with his hand as if that would help. Hoping that rubbing his temples, anything really at this point, would help alleviate his suffering. Strangely though he found his hands stuck in a position he assumed was resting at his sides. He couldn't move. He panicked.
Whole body tensing as he struggled with the feeling of almost complete immobility. His muscles tightened and relaxed, but he was only able to move the slightest amount before being pulled back into the previous position. The air, it seemed to resist his movements. It felt like being submerged in honey or tar really. When the initial panic subsided, he gave up his struggle, resigned to keep floating in this strange place. Perhaps he would reach something eventually, something to use as leverage and free himself of this... glue he seemed to be encased in.
He felt like screaming. Yet as he managed to open his mouth no sound appeared to come out. He was not even able to tell. He surely didn't hear anything more than the strange whispers seemingly carried by the wind. His head felt as though it was being crushed with massive force, pushed from every direction. He really needed it to stop, he'd do anything for it to stop and when it seemed he could not take it anymore he felt something break inside. Snap. The pain stopped. Instead he felt something new, foreign.
This is the only way I can help, the words suddenly audible in the sea of whispers. You need to survive.
His neck started to tingle and the feeling intensified. As though he was being stung with needle after needle which all seemed to leave a certain cold in his skin. Like taking a cool shower on a hot day the feeling spread like water over his body. From his neck flowing down, but soon it wasn't only his skin that was experiencing this strange feeling, he could feel the cool presence seep into his very bones, pool in his stomach, permeate him completely.
What's more, with the physical sensation came something else - an overwhelming calm, serenity even. Despite not knowing where he was, what was happening to him, to his body, what the strange feeling was, he was calm and knew it was going to be alright. It felt natural, he felt assured by the presence, knew no harm would come to him, sure of his survival. It felt good, to find this peace in the strange dream.
He could feel his body relax, every muscle, every fiber of him just letting go. Comforted by this new sensation. The strange air shifted, the odd taste now more prominent in his throat, slightly burning him with each inhale. The strange thickness of his surroundings seemed to give and he found himself able to move freely. Reaching out blindly with his arms he felt nothing, nor could he feel his struggle affect the overall direction his body seemed to be floating in. The movement... it seemed to slow down to almost a crawl. The breeze weakened against his skin and had he not been paying attention he most likely wouldn't be able to tell he was still moving.
The air felt almost normal now, even the burning seemed to fade after the initial shock. Along with the strange taste gone was the cold in his body, not a trace of the feeling remained. Only vague memory of the needles in his neck. Now that he was left without those sensations distracting him he could feel a presence. Not a person that could be standing beside him, no, the presence was all around him, seemingly enveloping him, unfocused.
It's done. You need to move on, came the whispers slightly above the background noise. He associated it with the presence surrounding him.
Now.
Whatever had been holding him in the air all this time suddenly vanished along with the presence as his eyes flew open. He was falling. Fast. Dropping down towards a swirling vortex of green smoke and light. All he could do was brace for impact as the world went black.