Jin felt like he was drowning in a sea of static, his consciousness a tiny, flickering spark in an overwhelming darkness. The Phoenix Protocol was a relentless, cold machine, working tirelessly to piece his broken body back together, but the process felt... invasive. It was like being rebuilt from the inside out with cold, alien fire.
'Cellular regeneration cycle has entered Phase 2: Deep Tissue Reconstruction,' Asha's voice reached him, a clinical whisper echoing through the fog. 'Neural pathways are being stabilized using archived memory engrams as a template. Warning: Memory fragmentation and temporal dissonance may occur.'
He tried to respond, to ask what that meant, but his thoughts were sluggish, heavy things he couldn't lift. The effort was too much, and he let himself sink back into the quiet hum of the machinery keeping him alive.
---
