Darkness erupted in every direction, swallowing the remains of the fractured battlefield.
Neo felt it press in from all sides, a single overwhelming presence that didn't feel like a thing with form or shape, but rather a countless emotions fused into one and given mass.
Pain burst through him immediately, sharp at first and then spreading like something alive beneath his skin.
His breath caught.
His thoughts scattered.
Everything inside him felt stretched between burning and freezing.
The Darkness wrapped around him.
It felt oddly gentle, like hands pulling him into a warm embrace.
Warm, but wrong.
Protective, but greedy.
It tried to soothe him, yet it couldn't stop itself from pushing deeper into him and consuming him.
He could barely tell whether it wanted to hold him or devour him.
Across countless universes, entire realities trembled.
The presence descending on him wasn't alone.
