He opened his eyes to a white ceiling.
For a moment, there was only the sterile, silent room and the faint scent of antiseptic and medicine.
Then his memory returned, not as a trickle, but as a flood into his brain.
The battle royale. The shattered boundary. Mesmer's voice speaking through Mira's corpse. Lilith's manic attack. Jason Vrell's grief-hardened face. The sword coming down. And then the darkness, the red ribbon, and the 'choice.'
His heart, and even his second one, beating in the bottom of his stomach where he placed it, turned to a stone of ice in his chest. He remembered accepting Yeon Li's offer. Not from trust. Not from desire. But from necessity.
Death was not an acceptable outcome.
Ronan pulled up his status page, his gaze bypassing everything – skills, stats, notifications.
His skills had gone up.
