13. Arran

Light flashed, filling my vision, blinding me. Such light, I'd never seen such light. No, that wasn't light searing through me.

It was pain.

Pain that filled every crevice of my body. My toes in my boots, the lines of the Talisman inked across my chest, my head. Oh, Ancestors, fucking Ancestors. My head ached.

My heart beat and it sent pain shooting through my veins. I tried to drag in a breath, but the small act of opening my lips was impossible. Every twitch of muscle brought pain sharper than anything I'd experienced in my immortal life.

I had endured torture before, but it had never felt like this. It went beyond physical. As if the core inside of me, my very soul, was being shredded. My insides were tearing themselves apart, searching for something.

Something was missing.

I tried to take stock. Tried to hone in with the warrior's focus that had saved me from terrible, life-ending situations again and again. But I couldn't order my mind, not with this pain.

I could not fight it.

Not without… whatever it was that was missing…

I could not fight.

And the pain swallowed me whole.