"Is it over? Is it really over? Did I die? Or did I... become something else?"
Atlas lay flat on his back, though he had no idea where he was or how long he had been lying there. All he could see was the blue sky peeking through the thick canopy of trees swaying gently above him. Air flowed into his lungs with every breath, carrying a sensation so strangely vivid that he found himself focusing on nothing else.
What was this feeling? This was air, right? But why did it feel like... this?
Cool. Fresh. Almost sweet in a way he could not explain. Atlas had never known that simply breathing could have a sensation like this.
And what was that? Why could he hear his own heartbeat so clearly?
Thump. Thump. Thump.
