The first thing I felt was weight.
Not the crushing kind, no, this was worse. It was the sudden, humiliating realization that I was no longer falling with purpose. I was tumbling, spinning, scraped raw by violet light that bit at my skin like static and heat all at once.
The portal swallowed me whole.
Sound vanished.
Direction vanished.
Up and down became suggestions rather than rules.
For a brief, stupid moment, I wondered if this was what being unmade felt like.
Then the world slammed back into place.
I hit the ground hard.
Hard enough to drive the air from my lungs in a sharp, choking gasp. My shoulder struck first, then my hip, then my head bounced once against something solid and unforgiving. Pain bloomed in bright, immediate flares, grounding me far more effectively than any training exercise ever had.
I lay there, stunned, staring at nothing.
Then I rolled.
Instinct kicked in, years of training moving my body before thought could catch up.
