Pain. Throbbing. Numbness.
All around me is searing pain. I’m reaching out of that sensation, trying to feel for anything else but that agony, but I hit a wall that refuses to budge. The pain trickles through my every pore, tearing me apart with vicious ferocity.
Then, out of nowhere, more searing pain shoots up my neck. I didn’t think that was possible. I try to curse, but I’m muted. It’s blinding and hot, and I can’t even curl my toes in response. It disappears after too long and leaves me with emptiness.
My body is shutting down. I can’t even feel what it’s like to breathe, but some of my consciousness lingers. I’d prefer if I was completely knocked out. Right now, it’s like I’m lingering between the realm of the dead and the living, torn between two worlds and edging toward that of the dead.
I don’t want to go. My life has just begun. I’ve been fighting, and I still want to fight because the battle for freedom and happiness is not won yet.
But I’m so tired. Whatever hit me, it’s making it too easy to give in, and my grasp on reality slips.
A flash of white.
The searing agony goes to the corners of my mind, and images that make no sense come to me. A man… too perfect to be real. His wings fan out from his back, feathery and white. The glow of the sunset hits those wings and casts long shadows across the ground.
Then I see a woman. She’s tan, and her eyes are catlike. Clouds sprawl above the two of them, in splendid purple and orange hues.
They look like they don’t belong, and yet they embrace each other on the warm sand. They kiss with so much passion that my heart aches. A tear slips from the woman’s eye. It’s heartbreaking to see them together. They remind me of the moon and sun and how they’re always chasing each other, but they are in two different worlds and can never truly share the same sky.
“I love you,” the man says with so much hurt that it thrums through me. I can’t see his face, it’s shadowed by the glare of the sun, but his voice is husky and low. The woman nods in response and tightens her grasp around his neck.
The strange, familiar dream fades. I’m thrust into blackness again.
Pain. Pleasure.
They cut through me in tandem. The pain comes first. It sears through my flesh and rips me apart muscle by muscle, merciless in its assault. Pleasure joins soon after, filling the cracks the pain left behind. I’m destroyed and mended simultaneously.
“Is… it working?” A male’s voice trickles into my strange dream.
“I don’t… know…” another says.
“Make… it…”
The sensations take over again. They reflect how I feel about the three demons. I’m tugged left and right. Pain. Pleasure. Hate. Lust. They’re like a plague in my flesh, but I think I prefer them around. I can’t decide, and that frustrates me to no end.
My eyes are forced open. I suck in a sharp breath as my body thrusts itself upward. I’m lying something hard… a bench, maybe? Above me, stained glass surrounds a golden chandelier.
I’m awake.
But not for long. Those damnable sensations are now gone, but my body wants to rest. I slump back down onto the bench. My chest and limbs feel heavy.
Xeres, Vickal, Sylver, and Jared are standing around me. Their faint figures blur. I sense worry from them, but I’m not sure, because I can’t be sure of anything when feeling like this.
What’s there to be worried about?
I don’t find my answer before my vision goes black.