Liam wasn't able to process the view in front of him before a crushing pressure immediately pressed down on him.
It started as a sensation similar to deep-water diving, as a gradual increase in force pressing against his chest, his skull, every surface of his body. But within seconds, that comparison became laughably inadequate. This wasn't water pressure. This was something far more fundamental, more absolute.
His lungs seized. The simple act of drawing breath became a monumental effort, each inhalation requiring conscious force of will to overcome the invisible weight crushing down on him. His enhanced physiology struggled against a pressure that operated on principles his body wasn't designed to withstand.
The Voidling noticed immediately. Its massive eyes fixed on Liam with something that might have been alarm, and its protective field intensified around him, the bubble of stable reality growing thicker, denser.
But it changed nothing.
