Daemon
Consciousness returned slowly and reluctantly, as though it were being dragged out of some thick, dark depth where remaining would have been far easier. First came the smell — pungent and bitter, tinged with smoke and herbs. Then came the sensation of heaviness in my body and stickiness on my skin, and only after that, the pain.
It didn’t hit me all at once as it had before. It didn’t flare up like fire. Instead, it spread gradually, filling everything: my muscles, my bones, even my breathing. Every movement carried a weight of its own and felt strangely alien, as though my body had been put back together from scratch, but whoever had done it had forgotten to explain how it was supposed to work now.
My eyelids felt impossibly heavy. When I finally managed to open my eyes, the wor
