Kael awoke slowly, like someone emerging from the bottom of a very deep lake, his consciousness returning in slow waves as every part of his body seemed to protest its very existence. The first thing he noticed wasn't the soft morning light filtering through the heavy curtains of the room, nor the comfortable silence of the still-sleeping mansion. It was the pain. Not a sharp or worrying pain, but that specific kind of physical exhaustion that made every muscle feel slightly inflamed, as if he had spent the entire night fighting… or doing something equally exhausting.
He opened his eyes slowly, blinking a few times as he tried to focus on the high ceiling of the room. His brain was still in a comfortable haze, that moment between sleep and full lucidity where everything seemed distant and without urgency. Then he tried to move his arm.
And immediately grimaced.
"...Ouch."
The sound came out low, almost a tired groan.
