I woke slowly, painfully, as though my body no longer fully belonged to me. Every limb felt weighted down with invisible chains, heavy and unresponsive.
Even the simple act of opening my eyes required deliberate effort. A dull, relentless throbbing pulsed behind my temples, while an uncomfortable burning sensation lingered around my throat, raw and tender. A soft but persistent ringing echoed in my ears, like an irritating whisper trapped deep inside my skull that refused to fade no matter how hard I tried to shake it away.
For several long, disoriented seconds, I simply lay there, blinking sluggishly up at the pale gray morning sky stretching endlessly above me. Soft clouds drifted lazily overhead, tinged with the first faint hints of dawn.
Wait… sky?
Confusion sliced through the fog in my mind. Why was I staring at the sky?
