The pressure pushed inward from every side.
Elias drifted in a weightless pool of heavy, warm ink. There was no surface to break and no floor to hit. The void offered absolute sensory deprivation, shielding his consciousness from the overwhelming demands of his new biology.
Beside him, a tiny shell floated in the dark.
Dot kept her ladybug wings tucked tight against her back. Her blue glow sputtered, burning strong on the left side of her form while the right side decayed into frantic, shivering static. She looked like a corrupted file trying to render in an organic space.
"Are you dead too?" Elias asked. He projected the thought outward, letting the vibration carry through the fluid.
"I don't think so," Dot buzzed. Her voice scraped against his mind, metallic and frayed. "But I feel sick. Like I'm being stretched across a rack."
