The air thickened until it became almost unbreathable, heavy as though invisible chains pressed everyone toward the ground. Gasps erupted across the strange white void, each sound jagged and desperate, a chorus of lungs straining against an unseen weight. Even Avin—who tried to resist, who always tried to resist—felt his knees buckle and his body lean toward the floor as though gravity had multiplied.
And then, just as suddenly, it ceased.
The oppressive pressure lifted, like a great hand unclenching, and the void rang with the sound of hundreds inhaling at once. Students clutched their chests, gulping air in greedy relief. Avin himself nearly fell to all fours, panting, his throat raw.
