Darkness didn’t lift all at once.It broke apart slowly, like something cracking under pressure.Cassian drifted somewhere between nothing and pain, awareness coming in fragments thin, unstable, refusing to settle.Cold.Not the violent, suffocating cold of the ocean.This was different.Dry.Controlled.Artificial.Air that didn’t move unless something forced it to.His lungs dragged in a shallow breath, then another, each one uneven, like his body had forgotten the rhythm of staying alive.Sound came next.A low, steady hum.Mechanical.Constant.It filled the silence too perfectly, like it had been designed to erase everything else.Cassian tried to move.Pain answered immediately.Sharp. Deep. Everywhere.It spread through his ribs, his shoulders, his side tightening his chest until the next breath came out broken.A faint sound
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