Liam opened his eyes.
For several seconds, he remained motionless, staring at the ceiling above him while his consciousness slowly emerged from the heavy darkness that had swallowed him. His eyelids felt unusually heavy, and his mind was sluggish, as though he had been asleep for days. He tried to recall what had happened, but the memories came in scattered fragments, the dead Ashmaw, Eldric collapsing to the ground, the strange crystal falling from the beast's corpse, and the system notification that had appeared before everything went black.
His hand immediately moved toward his stomach.
He expected to feel the familiar ache of his injuries, perhaps even the terrible pain that had accompanied every movement during his battle against Ashmaw. Instead, his palm met smooth skin beneath his clothes. He pressed against his abdomen, moving his fingers across the area where the beast's tentacles had pierced him, but there was no wound, no scar, and absolutely no pain.
