The sound of crumbling concrete and the distant, howling wind of Sector 9 faded into silence.
Hide's consciousness slipped away gently. There was no sensation of falling, no lingering taste of honey on his tongue, and no smell of sulfur or burning asphalt. For a long, indeterminate span of time, he existed as nothing more than a suspended thought adrift in an ocean of void.
Then, consciousness struck him like electric shock.
Hide's eyes snapped open.
Instantly, an agonizing glare assaulted his retinas. He instinctively raised a hand to shield his face, his teeth gritting hard.
There was nothing to see.
