Julien lay flat against the freezing stone ground while his brain tried to figure out if he was still alive after that terrible interdimensional trip.
His entire body felt like it had been run over by a runaway cargo truck and then thrown off a very high cliff into a pile of sharp rocks.
He squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the agonising pain of the spatial crush to slowly fade away into a manageable dull ache before he even tried to move a single muscle.
The air here tasted completely different from the ruined commercial sector they left behind, carrying a strange scent that smelled a lot like old dust and dried leaves rather than the usual city pollution.
He carefully opened one eye, then the other, to make sure his vision was actually working properly in this new place.
So the very first thing he did was lift his hands to his face and wiggle all ten of his fingers just to confirm they were still attached to his body.
