The darkness consumed him once more, and Alex returned to the light of the barren expanse, the land of no stars, black earth stretching in every direction, drowning in its own kind of shadow.
It should have felt oppressive. Instead, after where he had just been, it felt almost like relief. Better, by an enormous margin, than the pitch-dark abyss he'd been dragged into moments ago.
Or days ago. He genuinely couldn't say which.
Time inside that place had behaved strangely, compressed and stretched at once, the whole encounter feeling like the span of a few heartbeats and also like days spent standing beneath the weight of countless eyes.
Their nature remained a mystery to him. Their intent had no curiosity for him, nor did they carry disappointment or hunger. Just a cold, total indifference, vast enough that it hadn't needed to be anything sharper to leave its mark.
